Results 1,301-1,320 of 1,737 for speaker:Noel Rock

Public Accounts Committee: 2015 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Education and Skills (23 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: Of course. I appreciate that. I thank the Chairman. It is rare that I use up more than my allocated time at this committee. It is fair to say the number of complaints concerning SUSI has gone down substantially in the past 24 months, in particular. Therefore, the Department is to be commended on that work and on the work in general. Having looked at the report, I noted there are very...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: I thank all of the witnesses for their presentations and time and apologise for missing the first session. I will approach this topic with my Committee of Public Accounts hat on. I hope my stance does not break up the positive tone of the presentations. I ask the witnesses not to take it personally if I assess the figures in an analytical way. The IDA's metric claims that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: I want to parse a variety of different matters throughout my own questioning. Perhaps I will reach the same conclusion posed by Ms Murphy's question. In terms of what Mr. Clune has said, why are the jobs not counted? I know the witnesses are subject to legal process. If they cannot encroach on any of this matter, then by all means they should say so. Will Mr. Clune give us a broad...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: No.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: It does. Was the verification process outlined in the original contract which ConnectIreland signed?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: In Ms Murphy's opinion the verification process is too laborious.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: In regard to red lighting, it was stated earlier that ConnectIreland submits a lead and it is then effectively red-lighted. Perhaps Ms Murphy would define "lead". Is a "lead" a person within a company or the company itself? Am I correct that if ConnectIreland has a lead in a company and the IDA also has a lead in the same company it is then that the red lighting process kicks in or is it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: I had proposed to ask Ms Murphy a few more questions about the red lighting process but with due deference and respect to the ongoing process I will park them for now. I was very interested in the information provided regarding the cost per job. Ms Murphy stated that the cost in this regard via the ConnectIreland process is €4,000 versus €10,000 via the IDA process, which...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: The Chairman has a few more names on her list, to be fair.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: I might pick up where we left off if everyone else has finished. We were talking about the seeking of the money from IDA Ireland. I am curious about that and I ask the witnesses to deal conclusively with that. Newspapers reported figures in the millions. From where is that derived? What exactly is that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: That is a potential liability based on Ms Murphy's projection of how many jobs could be approved in the future.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: Does that tally with the witnesses' understanding?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: Nobody would begrudge ConnectIreland its success there.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: Was there any arbitration mechanism in the contract? Has that been triggered yet? Is that what we are seeing now, in effect?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: Perhaps the witness will try to help me understand it. ConnectIreland says it is creating all these jobs but the IDA is very slow to verify them. The witness says it is creating hurdles and so forth.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: To use Ms Murphy's words earlier, it is a very onerous process.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: ConnectIreland's 'Succeed in Ireland' Programme: Discussion (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: Why was an arbitration process not triggered earlier in light of ConnectIreland's success compared with the IDA's measurement of said success?

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources: National Broadband Plan Implementation (21 Mar 2017)

Noel Rock: 54. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the status of the national broadband plan; his views on the latest ComReg report which highlights that only 7,623 housholds and businesses have a fibre broadband; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13935/17]