Results 61-80 of 1,039 for speaker:James Geoghegan

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: I thank the witnesses. I will pick up where we finished there. In Mr. Moloney's opening statement, he was very clear, and Ms Duff just clarified that point. Mr. Moloney pointedly said, "... in relation to shared services I rely on a letter of assurance [from the accounting officer] from the National Shared Services Office." Was he trying to draw some kind of distinction between his...

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: From a governance standpoint, the separate issues of the Revenue Commissioners underpayment and the pension overpayment are both important, perhaps one more than the other. The buck stops with Mr. Moloney as Secretary General of the Department. Was he trying to muddy the waters by stating he relies on an assurance statement from the CEO of the NSSO? Was he trying to draw any kind of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: Not paying the Revenue Commissioners the moneys owed to it is about as serious an issue as can possibly be imagined. Any businesses watching will be aware that the impact on businesses that do not pay the Revenue Commissioners is unbelievably serious. What is the impact when an issue emerges? I take the Comptroller and Auditor General's point on the complexity involved in the particular...

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: How much interest has been paid to the Revenue Commissioners in relation to this?

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: The Department has paid €430,000 in interest penalties arising from this issue. What Mr. Moloney is saying is that the Revenue Commissioners reserve the right to take further action against the Department on the underpayment. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: What could they look like? What penalties could the Revenue Commissioners conceivably impose on the Department in addition to the €430,000 in interest?

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: Aside from the imposition of the interest penalties, do the Revenue Commissioners have direct engagement with Mr. Moloney as the Accounting Officer of the Department or Ms Kelly as the Accounting Officer of the NSSO, or is it simply the case that they state what has been found in a random audit? As the Comptroller and Auditor General has pointed out, Mr. Moloney made the voluntary...

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: I thank Mr. Moloney for that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: This is obviously very different. It essentially concerns an enforcement action because the Revenue Commissioners were not paid moneys owed to them. I am referring to that type of incident, in particular. Does it happen quite a lot that the Department omits to pay the Revenue Commissioners moneys owed to them? Perhaps it has happened from time to time but I would not have thought so.

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: However, has it happened before that interest penalties were imposed upon the Department?

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: Not to the amount of over €400,000.

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: Therefore, this was a unique scenario. To move on to another issue, we had the former CEO of Children's Health Ireland before this committee last week and she made clear that, in relation to her former position as CEO, she had been automatically given a contract of indefinite duration because of two five-year, fixed-term, consecutive contracts. The outworking of her asserting that legal...

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: Does Mr. Moloney's Department supervise other Departments that have a function in respect of bodies and CEOs under their aegis to ensure a situation like the one in question does not arise? If so, how?

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: I have a final question on another issue. How concerned is Mr. Moloney that the moneys his Department awarded to the Department of Health, that were then given to the NTPF and other waiting list initiatives and that were subsequently granted to hospitals for a specific purpose, were not in fact used for the purpose intended? How concerned is he, as we head into budget negotiations, about...

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: I thank Mr. Moloney.

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: I have a few follow-up questions. When did the Revenue audit, that sample spot check, happen? When was Ms Kelly first notified of it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: How long did it take to validate the 19 cases with the liability of €1.4 million?

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: The liability was €1.4 million.

Public Accounts Committee: 2023 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 11 - Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform
Vote 12 - Superannuation and Retired Allowances
Vote 39 - Office of Government Procurement
Vote 43 - Office of the Government Chief Information Officer
Chapter 3 - Vote accounting and budget management (10 Jul 2025)

James Geoghegan: When did the Department get to that figure of €1.4 million?