Results 8,601-8,620 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Written Answers — Department of Rural and Community Development: Departmental Data (19 Jan 2022)

Catherine Murphy: 2056. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will provide a schedule of all client and or customer facing and or orientated services that her Department provide via a contracted service provider; the contractor that provides the service; and the cost of same for the past five years to date in 2022. [1806/22]

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: It is very clear that we are going to have to ask representatives of the Department of Health to come back because most of our deliberations today are around the issue of the national children's hospital, as opposed to some of the other issues in the Department of Health that require scrutiny, of which there are many. I, too, want to start with the issue of the national children's hospital....

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: We know that during lockdown last year, there were months when construction on the hospital was not recommenced. No work was done. We know that there was an inadequate number of staff on the site and that caused delays initially. Is that part of the obligation on the contractor? The more we go into this, the more building inflation is going to be an issue. It is part of the reason the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: I believe there is a real possibility of a counterclaim here for non-delivery within the timeframe. A slippage of two years is really serious. The previous Secretary General at the Department of Health made a commitment to provide this document to the committee when it was due. I think it was due at the end of last year. Mr. Watts subsequently joined the Department and suddenly, the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: He told this committee and the Joint Committee on Health that we could expect it. In fact, we delayed our committee meeting until January because we were waiting for this document. We had received a commitment that we were going to get it. Was Mr. Watt material in making a change there? Who is he talking to about who will make the final decision whether to give the committee this document?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Can we have-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Can we have the names of the people who are involved in that decision? Could Mr. Watt provide that to us? If he cannot provide it now, will he provide that to us later on?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: There were problems with this from the outset. Mr. Watt has accepted today that mistakes were made in the implementation. He might tell us what those mistakes were. How does he see it? He can hardly expect us to feel confident in the people who made the mistakes in how this contract was progressed. It is part of the reason we want to see it and adjudicate on it for ourselves. What were...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Does Mr. Watt accept that those costs were for 2022 and the project will go on to 2024? There will be inflation in the costs of building. Who carries these costs? That is the issue. The original cost of building the hospital was for 2022 prices. If that goes to 2024, who will carry the extra cost?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Is it in the interest of the contractor to delay the delivery of the hospital if the State will carry the cost for the extension of the time it will take to deliver it?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Well obviously not, because they did not have enough people on site and they did not go back for months after the lockdown. There is no real evidence that that is the case.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Regarding the PwC report, what was the assumed building inflation in the report, and has that deviated from the actual building inflation that is currently transpiring? If Mr. Watt does not have the information, will he provide the committee with it? Is the full complement of the paediatric hospital board in place? Earlier this year there were five vacancies. Are those vacancies filled?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 38 - Health (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Will Mr. Watt find out and come back to us?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: On ReBo, I presume Mr. McCarthy will come back to us sometime next year. I presume it will be reported as an audit at that stage. Until that happens, there is little we can surmise from what Mr. McCarthy has given us to date. Am I right in that understanding?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: I have another point relating to University College Cork. The previous Committee of Public Accounts had a number of hearings with universities and third level institutions. There were very high levels of non-compliance or unorthodox transactions and so on. In actual fact, there was a "RTÉ Investigates" report on the issue. It is hugely disappointing to see that pattern still there...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: Individuals are telling me little progress has been made on things like pensions, holiday entitlements, etc. It appears that RTÉ is prioritising the engagement with Revenue and the Department of Social Protection. That aspect is disappointing. It is important that we know what is happening in this context because we want practical changes. Representatives of RTÉ are telling us...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: I think I had flagged it as well.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: I thank Deputy Carthy. We might have got this before, but, if not, could we request KPMG's terms of reference for the conduct of that inquiry and the details of who drew them up. The fourth paragraph down piqued my interest, which referred to the total grant amount calculated for UL for 2021-22 as being €2.4 million. Of that, some €757,000 was approved for release in August...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 Dec 2021)

Catherine Murphy: We also require information on the terms of reference and who drew them up.