Results 13,001-13,020 of 26,610 for speaker:David Cullinane

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I thank Deputy O'Brien and the Chair for her indulgence. We will all look at this through the lens of what is closest to us. I do not intend to get caught up in the hyperbole of this issue with regard to the commentary that will flow from this locally. It is obviously an issue that will be contentious in Waterford and Kilkenny. This boundary issue has been contentious for some time. I...

Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Local Government Bill 2018: Committee Stage (Resumed) (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I hope the Minister of State does not mean that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: We are coming back to current expenditure on housing in January.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I understand that but I am saying we will come back to HAP and all those areas in January. During a meeting with officials from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection the housing representatives attended. It was extraordinary that we were not able to get from the departmental officials information such as how many people were on HAP transfers. They said they did not have...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I do not believe the Department has given us the information we requested. That is my assessment. I get very frustrated with the Department of Education and Skills because that seems to be its modus operandi. The answer we got is not sufficient at any level. We asked the Department how the valuation was arrived at. The response we got was that was what the Valuation Office arrived at,...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: A further problem here is different valuations were given at different stages. Some of it was from independent valuers.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: When there are significant variations, we do not know the rationale for the Valuation Office arriving at the figure of €23 million. We were looking for that analysis and all we got from the Department was that the Valuation Office arrived at the figure. As we already knew that, the Department has not answered the question at all.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Very good.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: That may well be the case but I ask that we hold over this correspondence. I want to look at it in a bit more detail. I had seen it and I had the same interpretation as the Chairman but I want to give it a bit more attention. I asked the Comptroller and Auditor General about Project Nantes because a number of pieces of correspondence have come our way. I do not have the resources to be...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: Would that mean a special report?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: That would depend on what is in the information the Comptroller and Auditor General has received.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: The Comptroller and Auditor General has all of the information the committee received.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: That is fine. I am satisfied with that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I am satisfied, given the response of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: As the Chairman knows, I have been following this up for some time. I have to say I am not pleased with this letter. It raises more questions than answers. It does not answer the questions we asked. It does not state how many of the individual cases have been dealt with so far, which is the substantive question that was asked. A total of 157 cases need to be examined. We do not have any...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I was in contact with staff in RTÉ who are on these contracts. Some of them contacted me before today's hearing and told me they still have not been contacted. They are waiting to have their cases adjudicated upon. They have not yet had that opportunity. It is unfair. It is a long time since Ms Forbes came before the committee and it is a long time since the report was published. I...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: We have been looking for a while. We will see.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: We have been through that before.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: That is an important point. I know from a briefing I received on the merger of the Waterford and Carlow institutes of technology that the last big piece of the jigsaw being looked at is the change management strategy. It would be interesting for us to look at whether there is a separate change management strategy for each of the mergers, for example. They are all different because we are...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 29 - Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment
Chapter 8 - Measures relating to Cyber Security
Chapter 9 - Energy Efficiency National Fund (6 Dec 2018)

David Cullinane: I welcome Mr. Griffin. I want to start with broadband provision. A number of my colleagues have raised issues and I have listened patiently to the responses. I imagine that the witnesses are aware of the perception, even if they do not agree with it, that it has turned into a bit of a mess. The matter is very complex and convoluted in terms of the companies involved in the various...