Results 9,361-9,380 of 20,057 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: The whole establishment and status of it is unusual because it is not a typical commercial semi-State, which of course is not audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General but could be sent for by this committee and would comply in the normal course of events. On the other hand, Irish Water was put in under the Ervia Group at the time because of the unusual nature of it. It now seems its...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: That is the case at the present.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: That could be useful. I look forward to it happening. It is overdue. We will note and publish this item of correspondence. It is 11.05 a.m. I propose we resume at 11.15 a.m. We will go through a pretty substantial number of items then.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: The next item of correspondence is No. 1378 B from Mr. David Moloney, Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, dated 26 July 2022, providing further information requested by the committee regarding public funding for Benefacts. It appears that the Department does not see a direct role for itself, as the Department responsible for public expenditure, in ensuring...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: It seems to have been left hanging there. There is no central record. When we go through the correspondence we see that it states no central record of the implementation of recommendations made is maintained by the Local Government Audit Service. It is an issue. Does the Deputy want to comment on this?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: It is supposed to be the Local Government Audit Service.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: We know from the meeting at which we dealt with local government funding that each local authority is a separate unit of governance. They have separate governmental structures.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: The weakness we identified is that ultimate accountability is to the local authority members in the chamber. Normal practice in smaller local authorities is that two elected members are on the audit committee along with external people with accountancy experience. Their report is presented to the councillors. The problem is that the councillors may not have the resources or adequate...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: Given what has been said will we correspond with NOAC? It might be the best thing to do. We can highlight that we have concerns about this. While each local authority is an independent political and administrative structure, it receives substantial funding from central government. In view of this there is a gap, in that there is little or no accountability. We can ask its view on how...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: We will check that. We will also query this issue with NOAC. We will note and publish the item of correspondence. No. 1390 B is from Mr. Ciarán Ó hÓbáin, assistant secretary at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and is dated 4 August 2022. It provides a further update on recommendations made in our report on the examination of the 2019 and...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: The committee members will be happy to hear that. We look forward to receiving that report and I thank Mr. McCarthy. No. 1409B is from Ms Helen Hall, chief executive of the Policing Authority, dated 12 July 2022. It provides a clarification regarding information provided by the committee at the meeting with the authority on 7 April. It is proposed to note and publish this...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: We can do that. We can hold it over until next week. It is important. I have had to seek access to this on two occasions.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: They are based in a warehouse in Portlaoise, close to where I live. We will hold back No. 1410B and deal with it next week. No. 1422B is from Mr. Graham Doyle, Secretary General of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, dated 29 August. It provides information requested by the committee regarding energy ratings of local authority-owned social houses and the numbers...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: There is a gap there.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: The situation varies from local authority to local authority. Some of the local authorities have done very good work to increase the energy efficiency of homes. That is to be welcomed and the more of it, the better. Individual local authorities have engineers who are focusing specifically on this type of work and who have expertise in the area. The correspondence states: Local...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: I am referring in particular to the old 9-inch mass concrete walls with no insulation on either side. There are many of those houses in County Wexford, including in Maudlintown, with which Deputy Verona Murphy is familiar. There are such houses in O'Moore Place in Portlaoise and Sligo town. They also appear in Crumlin and Drimnagh.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: They have cavity walls that have been pumped.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: There were two cavity block walls with insulation in the four-inch gap between them. That was the general standard in the 1990s.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 Sep 2022)

Brian Stanley: It depends on the workmanship, of course. Thousands of such houses do not have any insulation or concrete walls, with no dry lining or anything on either side of the walls. We need to push this matter within our political groupings. We will note and publish this correspondence. No. 1424B is from Mr. Dave Walsh, chairperson of An Bord Pleanála, dated 30 August 2022, providing...