Results 11,501-11,520 of 34,618 for speaker:Seán Fleming
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: I understand. The Deputy asked two questions. The first was to me and why we would examine this. It is Vote 1. There are 40 Votes before us every year and we discuss the majority of them, albeit we do not get to all of them every year. As Chairman, I have received several requests to discuss the matter and I said that if we do it, it will have to be done promptly as I would not like to...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: It is suggested. We are not being told this but it is suggested.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: The answer to that question is that we have not obtained legal advice because I understand that we will not direct any questions to him in respect of the President and will question him only in relation to the financial matters for which he is Accounting Officer. He will not be able to explain. It is just to provide the information. He will not have made the specific arrangements. As...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: He can account for it.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: Exactly, and we would leave it at that.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: Exactly. I accept that we will not be able to tease out why this decision was made as opposed to that decision, but he will have to say that this happened, this is what it cost, and this was the expenditure. It is a question of having the information available. That is all it is.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: As was said, there would be limits and I would expect that, if somebody strayed too far with a question that I did not pull him or her up on, he would say that it would not be appropriate to answer. I would accept that.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: It is coming in in line with the Estimate.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: Can the letter be moved along on the screen? I call on Deputy Peter Burke. I am sorry, I missed Deputy Alan Kelly.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: We cannot say that.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: As Chairman of the committee I have received several media requests from journalists who have concerns about not being able to obtain information under freedom of information legislation. A number of members of the public have also asked me to raise this. That is why. I could not say no to the media.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: I want to bring this matter to a conclusion.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: We will conclude. Just to be correct or precise about it, the last published appropriation accounts are the 2016 accounts which were published by the Comptroller and Auditor General at the end of September last year. The ones for 2017 will not be published until Friday week, well into the campaign. We are not waiting beyond that. The last set of figures we are going on are the 2016...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: The point is that the 2016 accounts, which are the last ones we have in front of us, refer to the fact that the audit committee is not there. Arising from that, it has been put in place. While the Comptroller and Auditor General and the committee might be aware of it, the public has only been made aware of it through this letter which has come as a result of our indication that we may wish...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: We are not having a discussion about this. When the Accounting Officer is here, the committee can ask him that question. I am of the view that we will not have any questions in respect of the President at all. This is important and I want to put this in the public arena because it might not be fully appreciated, even though it is a matter on the public record. There is a discussion...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: I am dealing with that and I am bringing the matter to a conclusion now.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: I am drawing the discussion to a conclusion. This committee has never in the past or will never in the future allow its work to be dictated by timings of elections. In the previous Dáil, the committee met right up until, and including, the day of the dissolution when an election was imminent within weeks. The Committee of Public Accounts does not stop its work because elections are...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: Is it seconded?
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: We will ask the Secretary General to make the necessary arrangements and the timing as best he can.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (20 Sep 2018)
Seán Fleming: The proposal is-----