Results 7,781-7,800 of 21,440 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Mr. Howard also told us he had a good and very open relationship with Ms O'Sullivan. He said they were in touch and enjoyed good confidence. There was no tension. He told us he raised these issues with Ms O'Sullivan. We have in writing the fact that he looked for the matter to be resolved and asked for the unconditional withdrawal of Mr. Culhane's remarks or the overruling of those...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Ms O'Sullivan received the letter. What did she do? Did she go and talk to Mr. Culhane?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: When did the Commissioner get that legal advice?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Commissioner did not automatically approach Mr. Culhane.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: When did it go into that process?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: We need a firmer answer than that. It was very clear from the correspondence that what Mr. Howard wanted was for the Commissioner to intervene because she is in charge. Is the latter not the case?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: What authority does the Commissioner carry within the force?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: What clout does she carry? I am conscious that she is the first woman in the job. I do not know, because I do not work in her organisation, how that was received. I imagine, given the nature, size and scale of the organisation, she probably got mixed reviews on her appointment. I am trying to establish, because she is in charge, if the Commissioner carries the level of clout required for...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: But the Commissioner is in charge, is she not?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Let me put it a different way. In what circumstances does the Commissioner decide not to delegate? What needs to happen for the Commissioner, as the person in charge, to decide that, on a particular occasion and notwithstanding her organisational structures, a matter requires her direct intervention? What was to stop her contacting Mr. Culhane to say that the matter had been raised with...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Why did the Commissioner not do it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Why did the Commissioner need legal advice?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is that the Commissioner's managerial style? Is her leadership style such that she asks for legal advice on everything before she makes an intervention of that sort?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Is there not a disciplinary procedure within An Garda Síochána? Are there not standard channels and mechanisms for dealing with either what the Commissioner describes as personality clashes or tensions between individuals or acts which would be considered offside and unacceptable by management and by the person in charge of An Garda Síochána?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: To summarise, because I am mindful of the time, the Commissioner is telling the committee that she has those channels and procedures and that she is the person in charge, but when something like this happens, which is an obvious matter of concern as any attempt to interfere with the carrying out of the internal audit function is, of course, going to cause alarm, she cannot either approach the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: Absolutely.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: There is no evidence of the Commissioner taking immediate or decisive action in this whole debacle. On the contrary, we seem to have heard of a decision, taken at whatever level, not to inform the Comptroller and Auditor General to keep these matters beyond the purview of the Committee of Public Accounts. We dealt with correspondence earlier today, which I will not retread, in terms of a...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: The Commissioner failed to act decisively. Is this not a testament to the failure of her leadership within An Garda Síochána?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 20 - Garda Síochána - Internal Audit Report on Garda College, Templemore (Resumed) (20 Jun 2017)

Mary Lou McDonald: When?