Results 12,261-12,280 of 20,094 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: I have to say, Deputy Burke, the bad news on that front is that the provision Eir was given to proceed with the 150,000 premises did not compel it to go any further than it has done. I pointed out at the time that Eir was allowed to cherry pick. It picked large groups of homes. It was very clear. I said it to the then Minister, Deputy Naughten, that Eir had been allowed to hold the whole...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: I am saying to the Deputy that the Department engaged with Eir about four years ago. Permission was given to Eir to service those 150,000 premises. The bad news is that there is no obligation on Eir as a private company to go 1 yd or 1 m further than that. Yes, we should raise it with the Department. As I recall, Mr. Griffin was not there at the time, but I raised it at the time with the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: That is fine. The issue is with the second sentence in that paragraph.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: It is the sentence that includes the words, "the Government will seek to ensure that any downside costs of growing energy demand are minimised by encouraging data centre investment in regions [...]". Is it agreed that we will ask the clerk to seek that information from the Minister and his Department? Agreed. No. 793 B is from Mr. Denis Egan, chief executive, Irish Horseracing Regulatory...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: That is fine. It is good news that the number of tenders received exceeded expectations.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: Everyone is aware that it is a job to get contractors to do work now because of the demand in the construction and related sectors. It is encouraging, however, to know that plenty of offers have been tendered in this case. We will, though, request that clarification from the IHRB. Only two racecourses are covered now, so we will request that information from the board. I thank Deputy...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: The Deputy is happy enough with what is happening with this matter. That is fine. No. 756 is from an individual and is dated 3 August. It is a further submission to the committee regarding the management of State property assets by the Office of Public Works. No. 758C is from the same individual and is dated 27 August. The individual in question is advocating for a public property agency...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: It would have to be in private session. I have to mention that with regard to the company name, we need to be in public session. The proposal is that we organise a private session with the correspondent later on in the work year. Is that agreed? Agreed. No. 757C is from Deputy Carthy and is dated 3 August. It is a request for the committee to examine the appointment, now declined, of...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: While it is a policy matter, we can write to the Department. As the Committee of Public Accounts, we could suggest that from a public purse point of view, there be a proper recruitment process for positions such as these. That is the real issue here and we could lend our voice to that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: Is Deputy Carthy happy to agree with my suggestion that we lend our voice by including a short piece suggesting the process for recruitment be an open one carried out by the Public Appointments Service?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: No. 759 is also from an individual. It is dated 6 August 2021 and relates to Screen Ireland. We addressed this under No. 729B last week, which was from Screen Ireland. We agreed to request that Screen Ireland provide the committee with an update on its undertaking to contact the individual in question, as well as a breakdown of the percentage of its funding in recent years that has been...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: I thank the Deputy. No. 764 is correspondence from Deputy Verona Murphy dated 9 August, in which the Deputy makes a request to the committee regarding the awarding of contracts by a body not accountable to the committee. As the information is unsubstantiated, I request that members do not go into the detail of the correspondence at this point. As the body concerned receives significant...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: There are two proposals. One is that we request Deputy Verona Murphy - Deputy Catherine Murphy can confirm if this is okay - to forward the correspondence to Sport Ireland and request a response to the matters raised, at which point we will consider the matter further. Is Deputy Verona Murphy happy with that proposal? Is she still with us? Is it agreeable to the committee that we do that?...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: Is that agreed? Agreed. That completes correspondence. The next matter on the agenda is the work programme. An up-to-date work programme has been circulated. Members will note that representatives from the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, will be before the committee on Thursday to discuss NAMA's 2020 financial statements and special report 111, which concerns progress on the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: I call Deputy McAuliffe.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: The work on the MetroLink needs to be a very specific piece of work as there is substantial work to be done on this issue. I call Deputy Hourigan to speak as she has indicated also.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: I thank the Deputy for that. If it is agreed, we can take that suggestion on board.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: I suggest that we write to the Department in preparation for our meeting regarding the MetroLink project and DART to request information on that before the meeting. If the clerk writes to the Department at this point and we have some advance information, that would be helpful in trying to focus that meeting. The point is well made that if we are going into a meeting with minimal information...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: Does Deputy McAuliffe wish to come back in briefly?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (28 Sep 2021)

Brian Stanley: That is useful information regarding what the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage has done. On the basis of the contributions, there are a number of very specific items, including MetroLink, the DART line, BusConnects and the all-Ireland rail review mentioned by Deputy Dillon. I propose that we write to the Department prior to our meeting to request an update regarding...