Results 7,961-7,980 of 11,359 for speaker:Matt Carthy

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: I thank the Chairman. It is good to see him back. I have a couple of points. It is incredibly interesting. This relates to the 1997 decision by Revenue to allow couriers be designated as self-employed. I am not sure it was the couriers themselves who benefitted from that arrangement and would argue it was not. The letter states: A review of the 1997 letters from Revenue bears out the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: The fundamental problem here, from a public finances point of view, is that the Department is spending, if I remember correctly, close to €14 million a year sending out paper copies of payslips, which seems to be completely archaic in the modern era and given that most of the public services have moved beyond that practice. From the information we were given by the Department when its...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: I am very concerned about this section of the correspondence relating to the national broadband plan. It seems the ground is being prepared for a further revision downwards of the targets by the end of 2022. I am anxious that we get full clarification of the portion of the correspondence suggesting that certain legacy issues resulting from Covid-19 will continue to impact the contracted...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: It is a useful piece of work. An Taisce is funded through different schemes by a variety of State bodies and Departments. My specific question relates to the correspondence from the Department of Foreign Affairs on the same issue, No. 892. Does the Chairman want to deal with that now or later?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: I have a question in respect of the letter from the Department of Foreign Affairs regarding funding for An Taisce for the Green Schools programme. It is mentioned in the correspondence that the Department was aware of the reinstatement of the 2018 figures in An Taisce's 2019 financial statements and reference is made to a follow-up engagement with An Taisce. The letter goes on to state that...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: Thank you.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: I wanted to ask whether we have written to the Department of Health regarding the value for money review that is referenced in this correspondence. The Department will be before us in the coming weeks and I suggest we write to request a briefing on the Nursing Homes Ireland correspondence and the national children's hospital, advising that we will raise those issues on the day.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: Can we let the Department know that we will be raising it at the meeting and that it would be useful to have some written correspondence on it beforehand?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2016: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: I thank the Minister for being here. Like a Dublin bus, we have had two visits from the Minister in succession, so I thank him for that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2016: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: No problem. How is the allocation to the Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund arrived at? We are all on the record in this committee in agreeing that both sectors are incredibly important. The figure brought before us this year is a reduction on last year, but it in itself was a substantial increase on 2020 and the reason cited was the Covid emergency. The figure is still a €4 million...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2016: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: That essentially is my question. Obviously, both organisations would make claims in terms of what they would like to get but I assume there is more depth in terms of the consideration given as to what is actually provided. Am I correct in saying that it would be rare that both organisations would get exactly what they want?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2016: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: How is it that on an annual basis the agreed funding to the greyhound board is precisely 20% of the overall funding? I would imagine that both the HRI and Greyhound Racing Ireland would have different priorities in different years. In that context, is it not an unusual circumstance that the funding is divided in such a precise way, regardless of the mitigating factors in one sector or the other?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2016: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: It is set in regulation.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2016: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: The Minister has, under the Horse and Greyhound Racing Act, the power vary the percentages that are specified by way of regulation. Is that correct:?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2016: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: Is the Minister satisfied that the 80:20 ratio should be considered a foregone conclusion on an annual basis?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2016: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: I am not disputing the fact that prize money makes an impact. What I am asking is whether this level of funding could make a greater impact or a more positive impact. No matter what way we set out the figures and the numbers, the facts speak for themselves. A huge proportion of the prize money goes to a very small number of players. I was stunned in recent weeks, when this was raised by...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Horse and Greyhound Racing Fund Regulations 2016: Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: It seems strange to me that the system is such that if, for example, the horse racing sector managed to bring forward a really good proposal, another organisation would get the benefit of that on a pro ratabasis as standard. I would argue that we need to move away from the set percentages and actually allocate funding on the basis of merit. That is not to say that either organisation's...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: I again thank the Minister for being here. One point of clarity that has raised concern is that the Minister mentioned that the vote on Ireland's derogation has been postponed until March when it expires on 31 December. Am I correct in saying that the derogation will be extended to the new vote in March?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: I thank Mr. Nolan. I will reiterate what others have said. The one area that we cannot blame on anyone else, and I have mentioned this at previous meetings, is our water quality. We are an island and, once we operate and co-ordinate on an all-Ireland basis, which we should do, then we have no one else to blame for failings. The truth is that there have been failings. It is not good...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Nitrates Action Programme: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Nov 2021)

Matt Carthy: I thank Mr. Nolan. I do not know if he or the Minister will answer my next question. We had a bit of a debate on the previous occasion Mr .Nolan appeared before the committee in respect of the section of the consultation document that referred to the need for all farmers, including non-derogation farmers, to fence off water courses. I refer to the particular anomaly in respect of those...