Results 761-780 of 26,669 for speaker:John McGuinness

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: The Deputy will be a loss to this House.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: The OPW is going to undertake all of that in respect of the bicycle shed. Is that right? How much is that going to cost?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: It will cost €25,000.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: Would Mr. Conlon not use the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: Surely the way to do it is to ask the Comptroller and Auditor General to see if he can give the OPW a quick turnaround for an overview. I have always found it to be a meticulous office. Surely the Comptroller and Auditor General would point out the OPW's shortcomings sharply and make suggestions, recommendations and so on. If the OPW has €25,000 to carry out that type of report,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: That is not answering the question. If a report or information is coming quickly to the OPW, the bigger question as to whether it is fit for purpose in its structures might suggest a need for someone with management expertise and expertise in change management to look at how its business is done. Its portfolio is quite wide.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: We will come back to that point in the context of Estimates and everything else. The OPW was asked to provide this bicycle shelter. I advise anyone with a bicycle in that shelter to be careful because the bicycles are all wet. The shed offers no coverage. After the rain today, I advise anyone with a bicycle in the shed not to jump straight onto their saddle. The improvement of existing...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: I am looking at the note here which states that a group of Members asked for the provision of these bicycle spaces. They asked for improvements to the existing bicycle spaces. Is it intended to carry out more work on locations for bicycles that already exist around Leinster House?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: That is fine, but not at this price.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: Is Mr. O'Connor talking about Leinster House 2000?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: I am talking about the structures.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: That is what I am talking about. Mr. O'Connor should never bring up something like Leinster House 2000. The OPW had to retrofit all the windows with little mortars so we could open them but now we cannot open them. You would want someone in the room with you to physically try to open them. Having said that, is it not amazing that the OPW kept the whole place running without a glitch but...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: I am quoting from the annual report. It states that the Commission is responsible for determining financial and administrative policy in the Houses. In doing that, I was drawing attention to the fact that they know about financial accountability, the Committee on Public Accounts and value for money and everything else and yet they would not even ask the OPW about the price before it went to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: It was its side. The commission approved the plan presented by the OPW to proceed with the project, install a covered bicycle shelter and the location and so on, but the estimate was not there. Did the commission get a little booklet to say, “Here you are. That is what it will look like. There is the spec and we will come back with the price"?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: Okay. That was to the commission, again. I am interested in the comment here under heading No. 3: "However the assessment should have placed a greater emphasis on the value for money aspects of the project." In other words, value for money was a secondary thing. That brings me back to Deputy MacSharry’s point. The punter is always short-changed on all of these things. I think...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: Yes. Has the OPW considered that? I want to ask for the costs of the works on the Garda station in Bennettsbridge and the OPW's intentions in that regard.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: I know that. I am asking Mr. Conlon has An Garda Síochána approached the OPW for a new site.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: Okay. That answers that one.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Engagement with Office of Public Works (25 Sep 2024)

John McGuinness: Yes, and the costings for the station in Bennettsbridge. Finally, I mention the ancient document or poem "Pangur Bán". I have raised this numerous times with the Minister and I have been fobbed off. I am not going to be fobbed off any longer. It has been made available, I understand, by the authorities in Germany. I asked that it be displayed in Kilkenny Castle because there is...