Results 941-960 of 4,350 for speaker:Bobby Aylward

Written Answers — Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection: Community Employment Schemes Supervisors (11 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: 550. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the position regarding contractual, pay and pension concerns raised by community employment scheme supervisors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52033/18]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Laboratory Facilities (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: 6. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the review and cost-benefit analysis of the regional veterinary laboratory in County Kilkenny which serves the farmers of the entire south-east region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51041/18]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Laboratory Facilities (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: What is the status of the review and cost-benefit analysis of the regional veterinary laboratory in County Kilkenny, which serves the farmers of the entire south-east region? I have been raising this question for a long time and getting no answer.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Laboratory Facilities (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: I have been raising this issue since early 2017 and almost two years on it seems we are no closer to a decision on the six regional veterinary laboratories around the country which are under review. Meanwhile farming families are forced to operate under a cloud of uncertainty as we await the results of the cost benefit analysis the Minister commissioned, which has been going on for well over...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Laboratory Facilities (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: The Minister seems to be kicking this issue down the road for almost two years and he does not seem to be overly concerned. This is very important to the people of the south east. The laboratory in the south east serves Wexford, Waterford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, Kilkenny-Carlow, Laois, Kildare and all the surrounding counties. We have these laboratories for a reason and for best practice in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Laboratory Facilities (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: I would not be asking the question if it was at ease.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Laboratory Facilities (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: Will the Minister guarantee no closures?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: My apologies as I was in the Dáil.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: I will start with broadband. Being a rural Deputy, broadband is of crucial importance to us. The last phone call I received before I came in here was from a businessman on the Carlow-Kilkenny border who has problems with his Internet and has no broadband. He got Eir to install broadband for him and it stopped working. He has been in touch with Eir for over three months and is waiting. I...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: This is as important as the electricity roll-out in the 1950s and 1960s was.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: It is that important to the business sector of rural Ireland. How did this whole roll-out system start, where four to five consortia were bidding in the beginning and it all ended up with one? What happened, in Mr. Griffin's own words, that the companies like Eir etc. pulled out during the process and we ended up with just one? Can I get an explanation as a layperson as to why that...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: Did any of those companies give a reason?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: What was the problem with the regulatory and governance issue? Was it complicated? Were there too many criteria for people to come in?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: Both of those bidders are indigenous, we know of them, they are big companies and they are always rolling out their business. Why would they not be capable of taking on this? Now we have enet, an American company, coming into Ireland to roll out the same project. Does it not beg questions that only one bidder is left? Is there something wrong that there is only one bidder?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: Does Mr. Griffin think one bidder is the right thing, the right start for the business?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: That is why I asked about the financial plan and the cost efficiency. That is the important point. If there is only one bidder how will the Department be so sure? All sorts of figures are being bandied around. We heard first that it would cost the taxpayer €1 billion, now €3 billion or a higher figure is being mentioned. There is a big difference between €1 billion...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: As a businessman myself, a farmer, I know that the best way to contract out a job is to put two or three bidders up there and get the best value for money for me, by putting it out to the market. The Department has one consortium and it has given me assurances that it is considering it, but there is only one bidder, knowing there are no others against it, that the Department has no...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: Can Mr. Griffin comment on what I said about the newspaper reports that it is going from €1 billion to €3 billion? What kind of ballpark are we looking at here? I know Mr. Griffin cannot say it out straight but will it be €1 billion, €2 billion or €3 billion to roll out this scheme?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: It is a lot of money, €1 billion is a lot, not to mention €2 billion or €3 billion. Is Mr. Griffin happy in his skin in respect of contamination after the former Minister resigned – I will not go over that ground again because it has been already covered – that contamination has been covered properly, that the taxpayer can be assured that everything is...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

Bobby Aylward: Is Mr. Griffin happy with enet and that the structure of the consortium is above board? We hear different rumours from America. I said rumour, not facts.