Results 12,841-12,860 of 20,099 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (resumed) (3 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: I welcome everyone to this morning's meeting. Due to the current situation regarding Covid-19, only the clerk, support staff and I are in the committee room. Members of the committee are attending remotely from within the precincts of Leinster House. This is due to the constitutional requirement that in order to participate in public meetings members must be physically present within the...

Public Accounts Committee: Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (resumed) (3 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: I welcome Mr. Doyle to the meeting. As you will appreciate, we have limited time. As detailed in the letter of invitation, you have five minutes for your opening statement.

Public Accounts Committee: Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (resumed) (3 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: There are sound problems on Mr. Doyle's end.

Public Accounts Committee: Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (resumed) (3 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: We can hear Mr. Doyle now.

Public Accounts Committee: Vote 34 - Housing, Planning and Local Government (resumed) (3 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: I thank Mr. Doyle for his opening statement. Today's lead committee speaker is Deputy McAuliffe, who has joined us in the committee room because he must also vote at a committee that is sitting next door. The only way he could be accommodated was to have him be present. However, we are socially distanced well beyond the requirement. I think the distance is 6 m, not 2 m.

Written Answers — Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment: Workplace Relations Commission (3 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: 70. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the status of the recruitment campaign to increase the number of Workplace Relations Commission inspectors from 53 to the 90 inspectors it was authorised to recruit in 2006. [29943/21]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (3 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: 321. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the status of the roll-out of the Action Plan for Apprenticeships 2021-2025 which is a specific focus on apprenticeships that would help address skill shortages in the housing sector. [29525/21]

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (3 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: 322. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he is taking to address exploitative employment practices of apprentice workers by employers. [29526/21]

National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Statements (2 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate. A national recovery plan is important and I want to focus on the training and apprentice element. I want to raise the importance of training and proper apprenticeships, and I emphasis “proper apprenticeships” as we attempt to recover and emerge from the pandemic. We are in a housing crisis and it will only get more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Remuneration of Senior Civil Servants: Discussion (2 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: I thank the Chairman for the invite and his co-operation in arranging this meeting. I welcome Mr. Fraser to the meeting. I want to preface my remarks by saying I do not want to cast any aspersions over or question the competence or ability of the Secretary General of the Department of Health. I have dealt with him on few occasions, including when he recently appeared before the Committee...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Remuneration of Senior Civil Servants: Discussion (2 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: Can I interrupt Mr. Fraser? I do not want to go over the appointment of the various Ministers. The question I am asking is a direct one. At what point did Mr. Fraser become aware that the then Secretary General of the Department of Health was moving out of that Department?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Remuneration of Senior Civil Servants: Discussion (2 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: The obvious question is why the normal process for open recruitment, which would have happened in the second half of last year, was not initiated at that point. Mr. Fraser has clearly outlined how the pieces were being moved around. It is clear to me from what he said and from the correspondence he sent to the committee that a vacancy was arising at a Department that needed a good Secretary...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Remuneration of Senior Civil Servants: Discussion (2 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: Would Mr. Fraser not agree that when somebody is appointed to a position on a temporary basis and the recruitment process is run after he or she has been appointed, that would appear not to be best practice? This is what happened in this case, given that the recruitment process did not happen until this year, when the most recent acting Secretary General - now the appointed Secretary General...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Remuneration of Senior Civil Servants: Discussion (2 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: I understand that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Remuneration of Senior Civil Servants: Discussion (2 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: The second acting position, however, was filled when the Dáil was in recess just after Christmas. Turning to the salary for the position, what is the €292,000 figure benchmarked against? Was there an examination of what happens in other countries in respect of payments for similar positions in Europe, for example? Was there benchmarking against them?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Remuneration of Senior Civil Servants: Discussion (2 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: Mr. Fraser stated that a lower salary might have attracted only civil servants but we ended up with a civil servant filling the position. Is Mr. Fraser aware that the secretary general of the Scottish department of health earns €173,000, when the figure is converted into euro? Scotland has a population of almost 6 million people. In Finland, which has a population of more than 5...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Remuneration of Senior Civil Servants: Discussion (2 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: Surely the Secretary General of the Department of An Taoiseach, the lead Department in government, should have known these things. My parliamentary assistant found them out in one hour by looking at comparisons and double-checking them. If I was going to employ an electrician in the morning to carry out work for me, surely I would get two quotations and have a look at the going rate for the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Remuneration of Senior Civil Servants: Discussion (2 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: I can guarantee Mr. Fraser, from my experience, that there will be other hands out, and they will be the hands of the people who are already in the highest-paid positions, not those at the bottom of the ladder.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Broadband Plan (1 Jun 2021)

Brian Stanley: I thank the Minister of State for his reply. If I heard him correctly, he stated that 220,000 premises had been passed. Will he clarify that figure? Some 115,00 premises should be connected to high-speed broadband by the end of 2021. Some 544,000 premises are included in the national development plan, with between 70,000 and 100,000 premises to be passed each year thereafter. I...