Results 12,621-12,640 of 13,375 for speaker:Pat Rabbitte

Departmental Expenditure. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: Under headings A5, A6 and A7 in the Taoiseach's accounts there seems to be an explosion of spending on office premises, which has increased by 119%, while spending on machinery and other office equipment is up55%. Can the Taoiseach recall what consultancy services caused an increase of 77%? Did Mr. Phil Flynn do any consultancy work for the Taoiseach's Department?

Strategic Management Initiative. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: In terms of the success of the strategic management initiative, when the Taoiseach says that Departments are preforming better now than they were 20 years ago, is it not difficult to take that statement at face value on the day when the Committee of Public Accounts will publish a report showing that the Department of Education and Science concluded a deal with the religious orders that...

Strategic Management Initiative. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The question reads "To ask the Taoiseach if he has satisfied himself that the strategic management initiative is achieving its objectives". I am instancing a case where it is manifest that it is not doing that and I submit that the question is perfectly in order.

Strategic Management Initiative. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: In the Department of Health and Children on the same day, the Travers report has revealed, if we are to believe what the Taoiseach's spin doctors are saying to journalists, the taxpayer has been exposed to the tune of between €500 million and €2 billion for a shambles that, according to the Taoiseach, has gone on since 1976. How did the strategic management initiative focus on better...

Strategic Management Initiative. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: We all make mistakes but democratic accountability in this House corrected the mistake in respect of charges being illegally levied on older people in nursing homes and other State institutions. Is it not the case that whatever about the success of the strategic management initiative, enormous cost overruns are being identified throughout the entire Civil Service every year by the Comptroller...

Strategic Management Initiative. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: We are talking about the efficacy of the strategic management initiative and I am showing the loopholes.

Strategic Management Initiative. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: As I have said before, if the Ceann Comhairle had his way, he would not permit us to ask the Taoiseach anything, whether he went for a jog this morning——

Strategic Management Initiative. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: ——or what he had for breakfast, if he opened any pubs recently or if he went to Croke Park or Tolka Park. This is the acid test of the strategic management initiative and I am asking the Taoiseach if it is not difficult to reconcile his praise for the performance of the initiative with the lapses that still occur in various Departments. I have instanced the Departments of Education and...

Strategic Management Initiative. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: Is it not difficult to reconcile what the Taoiseach has said about the efficacy of the strategic management initiative and the actual experience before our eyes from a number of Departments, including the Department of Health and Children in the debacle which is going to cost the taxpayer up to €2 billion?

Order of Business. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: I object to the proposal for No. a9. It is quite clear that this matter ought not be taken without debate. For some reason the committee meeting aborted at 11 a.m. and the report was not presented to the members of the committee at the time. It would appear now that the authority of the House must be secured in the fashion set out in No. a9 in order for the committee to proceed. I submit that...

Order of Business. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: I am not discussing any details. I am explaining why I oppose the taking of No. a9 without debate. It is clear from the report to which I refer: On Minister Martin's arrival at the meeting venue (Gresham Hotel), I was contacted by his Private Secretary and I left the meeting room for a short period during which I met with him at the entrance to the hotel and briefed him on the discussion so...

Order of Business. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The report continues: Earlier, proposals to deal with the legal concerns surrounding the issue of charges for long-stay care in health board institutions to which stand-alone legislative change was part——

Order of Business. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: I am not discussing it in detail. I am drawing the Ceann Comhairle's attention and the attention of the House in the briefest possible fashion out of a report of 167 pages to the reason this matter ought not be taken without debate and the Taoiseach should be expected to inform the House the reason it is being done in this fashion and clarify whether the House will have a full debate on the...

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The same privilege would have applied yesterday.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: This is a red herring.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The Taoiseach is repeating the canard that he needs the privilege of this House to publish the report. He had the privilege of this House yesterday. The report would have the same privilege if the Taoiseach published it yesterday, and he knows that. Now we hear that a civil servant will be removed. In this instance, the taxpayer could be exposed to a bill of up to €2 billion. I recall the...

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: What did the Taoiseach say at that time? He has just condemned people for jumping up and down. The Taoiseach said: The inquiry represents an abdication of the Minister's constitutional responsibility for her Department . . . The identification of serious deficiencies in the Department of Justice does not exonerate the Minister from political accountability.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The Taoiseach continued: There is no valid distinction to be drawn between the Minister and the Department. ... The report is particularly critical of management in the Department but that cannot be divorced from the Minister who is appointed for the purpose of managing a Department.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: I will not go on to the flowery bombast of the man who started it all, Deputy O'Donoghue, because I do not have time, but it is almost unbelievable — I will release it later.

Leaders' Questions. (9 Mar 2005)

Pat Rabbitte: The current Taoiseach, when Leader of the Opposition, said: Ministers are entitled to demand the best service the Civil Service can provide but if civil servants fail they should not be scapegoated. What did the doyenne of probity, the current Tánaiste, say at the time? She said: Accountability means that a Minister must take charge, must exert authority over his or her Department, and must...