Results 101-120 of 125 for long speaker:Shane Cassells

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriations Account (Resumed)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Resumed)
Chapter 6 - Procurement and Management of Contracts for Direct Provision (Resumed) (11 May 2017)

Shane Cassells: I appreciate that. I am just trying to get a sense of the real long-term policy. On the one hand, the Department is ruling out actual integration, but, on the other, it seems to have been scared off the process of acquiring buildings for fear of threats in local communities. That is why I prefaced my remarks. As a society, are we not moving into that space? We saw what happened in...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriations Account (Resumed)
Vote 24 - Justice and Equality (Resumed)
Chapter 6 - Procurement and Management of Contracts for Direct Provision (Resumed) (11 May 2017)

Shane Cassells: I can tell Mr. Waters that, from memory, it was something a person might suffer for one week, but one would not live there long-term.

Public Accounts Committee: HEA - Financial Statement 2015 (29 Mar 2017)

Shane Cassells: ...from inquiring into the merits of a policy or policies of the Government or a Minister of the Government or the merits of the objectives of such policies. Finally, members are reminded of the long-standing ruling of the Chair to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the House or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or...

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 35 – Army Pensions
Vote 36 - Department of Defence
Chapter 8 – Disposal of the Government Jet (26 Jan 2017)

Shane Cassells: ...armoured so we are doing a lot of work on that at the moment. With regard to the upgrade of the 80 armoured personnel carriers we have, which is original equipment provided by Mowag, there was a very long process followed within the organisation to bottom out on what was the most appropriate way of ensuring that armoured capability was available to the Defence Forces into the future. We...

Local Government Reform (Amendment) (Directly Elected Mayor of Dublin) Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] (22 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...House holds over democratically elected members in local government. The Minister of State, Deputy English, and I were elected to our local authority on the same weekend in 1999, which seems a long time ago. He has a deep commitment to local government, an area in which I spent a little more time than he did, and to ensuring it is strengthened rather than diminished. From its...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: I welcome Mr. Long. Earlier Mr. Long said that the process would not be helped by inviting people to the process who would bid below the reserve price. On what basis was Mr. Long making that expert adjudication on possible bidders?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: It is perfectly clear with regard to something that has caused so much controversy, with a litany of possible background Machiavellian tactics in respect of this portfolio. It is not just Mr. Long who has said it. Repeatedly, NAMA officials who have appeared before the committee have spoken about the non-attractiveness of this portfolio, yet so many people believe it goes to the heart of so...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...and Auditor General said in his report that there were many attractive aspects to the portfolio. In fact, this constant running it down is perhaps a way of throwing people off guard. Does Mr. Long not accept that there were attractive aspects to this portfolio?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: Mr. Long said earlier that the circumstances that led to Project Eagle and the characteristics of Project Eagle were unique. Deputy McDonald started to refer to aspects of the political sensitivities as well. Will Mr. Long expand on that constant reference to the unique characteristics? Again, it is not just Mr. Long who has mentioned it. Senior NAMA officials who have appeared before the...

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...with the First Minister and the Minister of Finance in the North in respect of this and Cerberus. What was the role of the Northern Ireland Executive members in expressing preferences to Mr. Long on who should be a preferential bidder?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: So there was no pressure on Mr. Long. Again, I am trying to understand this uniqueness, the fact that everybody continues to characterise this as unique, and what the interaction was.

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: Does Mr. Long think the reserve price of £1.3 billion was a fair price?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: Mr. Long has said the process was ultimately successful. Was that despite itself and the processes involved?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (22 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: Having read the report and analysed it, what does Mr. Long think constitute normal processes? He has said some of them were not normal, Therefore, with hindsight, could he say the objective was achieved, despite the fact that the processes involved were not what they should have been?

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 94 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: National Asset Management Agency Sale of Project Eagle (Resumed) (16 Nov 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...Wilson apparently had a preferred bidder in mind, as did the Northern Ireland Government, and that there were bad relations between the deputy First Minister and the First Minister at the time over Long Kesh, does the deputy First Minister in hindsight believe he was sidelined not so much to do with people being at odds with him but purposely kept him at arm's length?

Public Accounts Committee: 2014 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners
Chapter 12 - Tackling Fuel Laundering
Chapter 15 - Taxpayer Compliance
2015 Revenue Accounts (13 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...to 69 and from 186 to 11 in Monaghan. In liaising with agencies such as the Garda, are the Revenue Commissioners getting to the point of negating the problem? Is there a criminal aspect lying in the long grass? I am sure there is regular contact between the Revenue Commissioners and the Garda because it is a cross-agency issue, both in terms of the loss of funds to the Exchequer and...

Financial Resolutions 2017 - Financial Resolution No. 2: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2016)

Shane Cassells: .... There is not going to be an equal spread and that issue has to be looked at. With regard to education in the budget, the funding which was allocated to the third level sector is a start but it still falls a long way short of what had been set out as required in the report by Peter Cassells. In addition, the failure to deal with the pupil-teacher ratio was also a missed opportunity....

Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 91 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Management of Severance Payments in Public Sector Bodies (21 Sep 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...to get a flavour of it because it is helpful for people in general, even though the Comptroller and Auditor General has clarified it by saying he that thinks it is a better course to pursue in the long term in respect of future cases. From our point of view, that is interesting.

Public Accounts Committee: HSE Financial Statement 2015 (15 Jul 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...that opening gambit. Does Mr. O'Brien believe that there were no funds from the HSE that were used in an inappropriate manner? That goes to core of this. We could read all the reports all day long, but the core of this discussion and the core of what people listening to and viewing these proceedings today are seeking from us is if Mr. O'Brien believes the HSE got value for money when it...

Rent Certainty Bill 2016: Second Stage [Private Members] (14 Jun 2016)

Shane Cassells: ...Fáil Party proposes an area-based rental index governed by the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, for a maximum of three years. There is no doubt that the key issue of supply must be addressed. For too long, the building industry and builders who provide homes have been considered dirty words. When I hear the emotive and grandiose speeches in this House from people on the...