Results 13,861-13,880 of 20,099 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I will remain with the issue of banks for the moment. The State has shares in three banks. It has a 13.95% share in the Bank of Ireland, and as I understand it, there was a dividend payment of €24 million in 2019. In respect of AIB, the State has a share of just over 71% in the bank, and, in 2019, there was a dividend payment of just over €228 million. How much of a share...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: To be polite about it, the bank is charging fairly healthy interest rates on mortgages and loans in comparison to other institutions.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: At the end of 2018, bank debt stood at €41.7 billion and the State received €300 million in dividend payments in 2019. It seems that the taxpayers have taken a substantial hit, if all the State received was €300 million from the three banks from which it should receive dividends, when the annual cost of servicing the debt, according to the Comptroller and Auditor...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: Are there any plans to divest or sell off any of those shares?

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I do not advocate such an action, by the way.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: Irish Water received €2.599 billion in Revenue payments over the past three years, and another €1.028 billion, which amounts to €3.6 billion approximately in payments from the State in that period. I acknowledge that Irish Water is not subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General. I was in the Dáil when it was established and I spoke to the Minister at...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: What I am getting at is whether there is anyone with financial expertise. There is a significant financial expertise in Mr. Moran's Department overseeing this. There is a large sum of money going to Irish Water - a cartload with creels on it. From the public's perspective, the concern, which has been a concern since the body was established, is that no audit conducted by the Comptroller...

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I know that. Let me clarify. What I am saying is that the cheque is going across from your Department or the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. It is basically being left to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to oversee this. That is what the officials here are confirming. There is no Department with a financial remit overseeing this expenditure.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: It was because the pubs and bookies were closed.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I will allow one question from Deputy Devlin.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: In regard to the dividends from the semi-State bodies, do the witnesses have a breakdown of the individual figures? If not, I ask that they be forwarded to the committee.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: Mr. McCarthy might come back with the figure for the ESB, Coillte, Bord na Móna and so on.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: Has there been any engagement with Bord na Móna? It has been through a very difficult time in terms of restructuring. It has had to do in one year what is supposed to happen over ten years in terms of moving from brown to green. It has big investment plans in place. Has the Department engaged with it at any level in regard to its plans?

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I ask Mr. McCarthy to come back to me on it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: Bord na Móna is actively engaged in setting out a path forward. The issue of transition in the midlands is very important.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I have asked for that information.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I have seen them in other years.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: We would like to know the companies involved and the figures for each of the last five years.

Public Accounts Committee: 2019 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 7 - Office of Minister for Finance
Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2019
Chapter 17 - Ireland Apple Escrow Fund (5 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: I thank the witnesses for attending today and for the information they provided to the committee, which will be useful. I also thank the Comptroller and Auditor General and the parliamentary liaison officer of the Comptroller and Auditor General's office for attending and assisting us. Is it agreed that Clerk seek any follow-up information to carry out any agreed actions arising from...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (4 Nov 2020)

Brian Stanley: We are joined remotely by the Comptroller and Auditor General Mr. Seamus McCarthy as a permanent witness to the committee. Apologies were received from Deputy Neasa Hourigan. The minutes of the meetings of the 21 and 22 October have been circulated. Are the minutes agreed? Agreed. As previously agreed, the minutes will be published. I now propose that we go into private session to...