Results 9,401-9,420 of 27,945 for speaker:Michael McGrath

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Housing Assistance Payment Administration (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: 758. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the position on an existing tenant renting in the private sector who becomes eligible for housing assistance payment in the course of his or her tenancy; the obligations on the landlord in that situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6663/19]

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: I welcome the Minister of State and his officials. He said the word on the ground is that he will be required to cough up €3 million from his budget in the current year. Has he been formally notified by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform that that is the anticipated request?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: How did the Minister of State learn that the Department is looking for €3 million?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: How does the Minister of State know?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: Where might the Minister of State find that €3 million in his Estimate?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: Where will the Minister of State find the €3 million?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: The OPW has a capital spending estimate for 2019 of €182 million. Approximately €76 million is for flood risk management and €106 million for estate management. Where is the axe most likely to fall? Will the OPW look to the flood schemes, estate management or other projects?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: That is a surreal answer. It is not as if the Minister of State was anticipating an underspend of €3 million. He has brought forward the Estimates and that is what he plans to spend. The reality is that he has €3 million less to spend in 2019. That will have implications. There is no point talking in circles. He might as well spell out where he thinks he will find the savings.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: Does the Minister of State have more schemes shovel-ready than for which he has money available? I am aware that there is a pipeline of schemes going through the planning process, but if the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, said to the Minister of State that he could give him an extra €20 million for schemes in 2019, would he be in a position to spend it?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: Does the Minister of State have projects at an advanced stage that could absorb the money?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: Therefore, the constraint is money. That is the point I am getting at.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: I thought the Minister of State said he had more projects shovel-ready than for which he had money available.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: In summary, the impact is likely to be a delay in undertaking certain flood relief schemes.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: Will the delay be in the order of weeks or months, as both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance said?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: Will the Minister of State have to come back when he finds the €3 million in savings in the Revised Estimates? I know that there was a request that this meeting not take place, but it was the view of the committee that it should in order that we could ask these questions before decisions were made on where the axe would fall.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: I want to pick up on Deputy Burton's point about construction inflation. Mr. Buckley was very helpful in his answers. A number of figures have been given. Mr. Buckley gave the committee his view from the prospective of the OPW that construction inflation was possibly running as high as 11% to 12%.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: I will not ask Mr Buckley to comment on the children's hospital project, but I am trying to use his knowledge to improve our understanding of how things work. In the case of that contract - I am sure it applies to others - a guaranteed maximum price is set and there are certain exclusions which can give rise to an increase in price above the guaranteed maximum price. One of the exclusions...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: How does the OPW treat the issue of construction inflation in the contracts into which it enters and of which it is in charge?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: What does the OPW write into the contract to address the issue of inflation?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2019
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (Revised) (12 Feb 2019)

Michael McGrath: Would the OPW include in the contract inflation at a certain figure and say the contractor would have to absorb that amount and that anything above it would provide grounds for a legitimate extra claim by it?