Results 1,301-1,320 of 26,392 for speaker:John McGuinness

Financial Resolutions 2023 - Financial Resolution No. 4: General (Resumed) (12 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: I welcome the budget, the increases across the various Departments and the introduction of other headings under which a great deal of money will be spent. However, not enough time is afforded by the House to discuss how money is spent, whether it is spent well and whether we get value for it. In the lead-up to budgets, we hear various Departments making plays for the amounts they want....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: School Staff (12 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: 113. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she intends to change the requirement for school caretakers to sign on during school holidays. [44527/23]

Written Answers — Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government: Planning Issues (12 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: 131. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the reason for the inordinate delay in considering the Kilkenny Wind Energy Strategy/Policy proposed by Kilkenny County Council and submitted to his office by the Office of the Planning Regulator; if he will outline the process involved in considering the matter; if outside expertise or consultants are engaged to assist in...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education Costs (10 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: 594. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he will review a SUSI application by a person (details supplied). [43418/23]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Healthcare Infrastructure Provision (5 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: 327. To ask the Minister for Health the reason for the delay in paying contractors that have completed works in hospitals throughout the country; if he will confirm the amounts due to contractors by each major hospital for completed work above a value of €50,000; and if he will expedite payment to all contractors affected. [43217/23]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Appointments Status (5 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: 331. To ask the Minister for Health if a date for an operation for a person (details supplied) will be confirmed as the case is deemed to be urgent. [43221/23]

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: We have received apologies from Senators Higgins and Sherlock. The minutes of the 27 September 2023 meeting were agreed in private session. I welcome Mr. Gary Tobin, assistant secretary at the Department of Finance; Mr. Gerald Angley, counsellor; and Ms Hazel Ryan, EU budget attaché. I remind members and witnesses of the note on privilege. Members are covered by full privilege...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: None of the members online have indicated they would like to speak. I will go back over some of the points Mr. Tobin raised in his opening statement. He said that the Commission has pointed to major challenges arising since the budget of 2020 and he spoke about Ukraine and Russia, inflation and so on. What other major challenges are there?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: The EU is experiencing the general costs which domestically we are all experiencing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: In the context of the borrowings the EU has had to make, and therefore the rising interest rates, how are those borrowings structured? Are they fixed rates? Is it money on the short term from the markets? Who makes the decisions around that? What structure is there to say that the risk will be mixed and a set rate will be taken, as we would do in our own economy? Who looks at that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: The Department might provide us a note on the risk spread and the amounts of money involved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: What is the function of the Commission’s equivalent of the Committee of Public Accounts? Does it engage with or examine the Commission? Who examines whether the Commission is getting value for money? Are there a number of such bodies to examine the various stages?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: Is that the only formal oversight group that examines all of the EU’s spend?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: What about the Members we elect? What oversight work do they do?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: Is that a forensic assessment or does the committee just take a general look at the figures?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: They are all robust examinations.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: There is to be an extra €100 billion in the budget from 2021 to 2027. The witnesses also mentioned the war in Ukraine and so on. Before I ask about those matters, from where does Ireland’s contribution to accommodating people who are fleeing the war in Ukraine come?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: EU Budgetary Proposals: Department of Finance (4 Oct 2023)

John McGuinness: Alongside the contribution we are making to Europe is a direct contribution made by the Irish Government.