Results 11,801-11,820 of 27,334 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Ownership of the National Broadband Network: Motion [Private Members] (23 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I am sharing time with Deputies Stanley and Fitzmaurice. The Minister was disingenuous in his opening remarks when responding to the Labour Deputies. He said my party and other Opposition parties were treating people in rural areas of Ireland as second-class citizens; nothing could be further from the truth. Everybody in this House wants people in rural areas to have proper broadband. I...

Child Maintenance: Motion (22 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: The Government will be sitting on its hands.

Child Maintenance: Motion (22 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: It is worth reminding the House that it has been four years since the then Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, cut payments to lone parents. Of all the attacks on people during the austerity years that one ranked as one of the most vicious and worst cuts. At the time, I described it as slash and burn politics but I was not on my own. The Minister of State, Deputy Finian McGrath,...

Child Maintenance: Motion (22 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I do not see him, as a Minister of State supporting Fine Gael, showing the same level of urgency or robustness as he did when he was in opposition. We warned then, as did the Minister of State and campaigning groups, that the measure would impoverish lone parent families. However, our efforts were to no avail. The Minister was not for turning and the cuts are still in place. The Minister...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: It is not agreed.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: Yes. I am saying that if a vote is called, that will not preclude us from being able to put questions in respect of Thursday's sitting.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: This concerns the Thursday sitting and the 40-minute debate that is being put aside for the report from the Committee on Procedure on the voting record last Thursday. I have a number of questions on this matter for the Ceann Comhairle.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I do not believe that 40 minutes is adequate and we will be opposing the Order of Business on this basis. Second, it is not clear where the Taoiseach said that the Deputies involved, namely, Deputies Dooley, Niall Collins and Lisa Chambers, will be present in the Chamber and would be in a position to field questions. That is not clear. Maybe Teachta Micheál Martin would-----

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: -----be able to clarify that for us. I would be grateful if the Ceann Comhairle could, please.

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (22 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I want to raise a matter in respect of No. 40afor Thursday, namely, the statements that will be taken on the report from the Committee on Procedure. I know we are dealing with Tuesday but I ask the Ceann Comhairle to bear with me for a second. There may well be a vote called on the Order of Business for Tuesday's sitting. If that is the case, it does eat into time and we may not get to...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (17 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I support the €90 million that has been made available for a transformative fund for institutes of technology. It is necessary if they are to be allowed to transform into technological universities. As the Minister for Education and Skills will know, there is an application from IT Carlow and WIT to become a technological university. It seems to be still bogged down in process and...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: I will come back to the consultancy spend as we have raised this at a high level in the context of how much money the State or organisations funded by it are spending on consultancy. It is similar to what we are doing with other matters and when we see consultancy spend we should seek a breakdown of what exactly the money is being spent on. We must examine this a bit more closely. There is...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: It is a desk-top exercise for somebody. As an exercise in good, prudent examination of how taxpayers money is spent, would it not be good to have a figure for how much the State spent, directly or indirectly, on external consultancy in a particular year? I would say the figure would be frightening.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: It is not a case of trying. We need to do it.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: We can agree the definition.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: The secretariat might come back with a definition.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: Yes. It is collating-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: The Department could come back with that, absolutely.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: Let us say 2018 because some organisations will not have their accounts up to date any way, therefore, 2018 would be a reasonable year with which to start.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (17 Oct 2019)

David Cullinane: Deputy Connolly hit the nail on the head. When we refer to money spent on consultancy, some of it will need to be spent. We are not stating there is no place at all for spending on outside consultancy. The volume and the repetition involved is a worry, however. Leaving aside the definition of what consultancy work is, I imagine a shocking amount of money is spent in any given year. It...