Results 7,801-7,820 of 8,073 for speaker:Peter Burke

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: Correct.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: Who was the contractor?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: So it received €2.6 million for the system.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: How does the Department assess that the system has been working to date?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: Can the system furnish an aged debt listing, together with cash balances, per Intreo office, as well as a total figure? I presume the Department can obtain a detailed report showing the activity level in each office of the Department.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: Per office.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: What about different jurisdictions because I want to move on to-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: I am confused by the difference in cash balances throughout the different offices. From reading the report, there seems to be a difference in the calculation. Will Ms O'Donoghue comment on this? How has the difference come about? I understood it was because of a difference in cash balances in a particular Intreo office and that the cash balance was different per system. There was...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: It has been in place from the very start of November 2014.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: The difference in cash balances is from the exact time the new system went live and has still not been rectified.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: We are not aware of where it comes from either.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: In terms of debtor balances at 31 December 2015, there is a difference of €515,000. In debt recovery there are balances of €78.7 million and €79.8 million, respectively. There is a difference of €1.1 million directly as a result of implementations of the new system. Do we have any detail on the reason for the difference?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: Does Ms O'Donoghue believe the new system is operating effectively? As someone looking at the system, €2.6 million has been spent on the new software, yet in all of the key areas, there seems to be an issue in reconciling the differences. There is also a concern about the integrity of the system. Has it to do with staffing issues and what is being input into the system or the actual...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: Who operates the payroll system? What software is used and for how long has it been in place?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: Is Ms O'Donoghue happy with the shared services system and how it is operating?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: There was a significant increase in the level of overpayments to staff within the Department at year end. The figure was approximately €3 million covering 1,361 cases. In 2014 it was €1.2 million. How does Ms O'Donoghue account for the difference?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: Do we know exactly where responsibility lies for the overpayments? We are detailing clearly the taking of sick days, etc. but in any organisation basic internal controls should pick up on these issues and report accurately on them to the payroll section. Where does responsibility lie to ensure the correct information gets to the payroll section?

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: Therefore, there is no one to take responsibility. When Ms O'Donoghue says responsibility is shared, we cannot pinpoint where there is a breakdown in terms of internal controls and communication. From my perspective, that is a huge concern.

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: We have paid €2.6 million to Accenture and Ms O'Donoghue said the Department was working internally to ensure that a new system went live and that all clients of the Department complied with policy and got their correct payments. Does it concern Ms O'Donoghue that over 53% of her staff have no recovery plans for overpayments from the Department? Is she concerned about how that might...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 37 - Department of Social Protection
Chapter 9 - Regularity of Social Welfare Payments
Chapter 10 - Roll-out of the Public Services Card
Social Insurance Fund 2015 (20 Oct 2016)

Peter Burke: People on the front line tell me that overpayments to clients are taken very seriously and acted upon almost immediately. Clients are asked to put a repayment plan in place or face significant consequences but the cumulative figure has increased to 53% for staff within the Department who have been overpaid and who do not have recovery plans in place. The example the Department is setting to...