Results 1,041-1,060 of 29,533 for speaker:Brendan Howlin
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: Does the court have the same access to procedures in those countries and the same powers to investigate the way money is spent, potential fraud and so on? Aligned to that, does EPPO have exactly the same functionality there?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: Mr. Murphy has anticipated my next question. It seems to me that in some of the countries we visited that are now candidate countries, it would be necessary to have a robust internal audit system.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: Does the European Court of Auditors have sufficient resources to provide that sort of assistance, including seconded personnel?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: I will move on to domestic expenditure and the Brexit adjustment reserve. It will not come as a surprise that the latter is a fund of particular interest to me. Mr. Murphy indicated in his report that €361.6 million had been drawn down in December 2021 and a further €276.7 million was drawn down in May of this year. Can Mr. Murphy give an indication of the particular projects...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: They are not exactly round figures.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: When Mr. Murphy says €361.6 million it looks as if it is for some purpose. How would the European Court of Auditors come to such an odd figure?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: The risk lies with the member state.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: Ultimately, if what is spent does not qualify, it is the member state that is at a loss.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: The European Court of Auditors has no notion of what particular projects have been applied for and are under construction to date. This is timelined and has to be spent by the end of 2024.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: I will ask a final question on that issue. Presumably somebody is determining that the projects are potentially valid. If it is not the European Court of Auditors, is it the European Commission itself that does this?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: If the Commission says "Yes" and the Court of Auditors ultimately says "No", it is fairly tough on the member state.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: Liz Truss might ultimately have an impact.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: I will make a comment on Mr. Murphy's last statement because, as a practising politician and somebody who has held executive office, there is a certain coldness about an auditex post factoof decisions that were made in the middle of a crisis. There is some controversy about the procurement of respirators in Ireland, for example, and across Europe. Had we needed them, it would have been a...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: European Court of Auditors: Discussion (23 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: We looked, like every country, for PPE throughout the world at the beginning of the crisis. Should we have drilled deeper into some of the procurement decisions we made? Yes, but if we had not gotten the PPE and people were dying for want of it, there would be a different and much more serious set of questions to be answered.
- Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Human Rights (22 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: The Minister is right in his contention no reasonable person would say the death of a nine-year-old or the deaths of 58 children could in any way be justified by the restoration of order. The Minister has told us, basically, that in that interaction with the ambassador, he was told falsehoods. That is very worrying. Has the Minister summoned him back since to ask him to correct and give...
- Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Human Rights (22 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: 80. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the actions that he has taken to date to protest at the suppression and violence being perpetrated on peaceful protestors in Iran; if he has summoned the Iranian ambassador to personally set out Ireland's abhorrence of these actions; the additional sanctions that Ireland is supporting or has proposed; and if he will make a statement on the...
- Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Human Rights (22 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: Despite my longevity in this House, I am always confused about how questions are grouped. My question, Question No. 91, which was not in the previous group, deals specifically with LGBT rights for visitors to the World Cup in Qatar, yet it was not encompassed in that group.
- Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Human Rights (22 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: Is it?
- Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Human Rights (22 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: How these things happen confuses me. I will move on to the questions. A number of Deputies have raised the issue of Iran. It was dealt with previously. It merits considerable focus in this House. Most of us are-----
- Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Human Rights (22 Nov 2022)
Brendan Howlin: Exactly. We have time to tease out exactly what is happening in Iran and the information being circulated by the Iranian ambassador here, which many of us will have received, and the ongoing struggle, as the Minister said, of young people and women in taking a stand against oppression. I am interested in the Minister's view.