Results 14,121-14,140 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: With regard to Departments doing their budgets and having certainty, are timelines applied for the conclusion of this type of claim? Is it normal for claims to be completed the following year?
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: It is-----
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: I want to pick up on the 95% cost certainty. The difference is a sizeable amount of money. I remember some discussion about there being a gigantic underestimate with regard to cabling. That would not account for the amount of money involved here. This will tell us something about the flaws in the tendering process. It would be useful to explore this because that is where there is a degree...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: Is that the pattern of how the company operates in Holland as opposed to how it operates in Ireland, or is there a weakness in the system here?
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: Is the same fallout happening in Holland?
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: I am with the Chairman on that. However, the second point I would make is that this is about European countries competing for contracts above a certain value. There is one company which seems to be winning a large number of public contracts. The criticism is that it comes in low and then adds extras. Are we handling the tendering process differently in this country and is that then being...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: That is not really the point. I might not be making myself clear.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: Are there weaknesses in the system here which expose us further? Would this company do exactly the same in its home jurisdiction?
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: Ireland is a small country and does not have the specialist expertise its public sector that Germany might have, particularly on foot of its advanced infrastructure and historical experience in rolling out and delivering contracts of this nature. Are we more exposed? Is there a weakness in our procurement process that would require us to adopt a different type of infrastructure...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: There are other issues with that.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: It is really important that we know who this entity is and its ability to fund and deliver a project. Knowing who the entity is will tell us this. If a firm goes in for a tender to build schools it has to say what its turnover was in the past three years and what its form is. This seems to be absent. It is critical that we know who the bidders are. The inclusion of subcontractors is a...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: This is an individual case. People who have had to tender for something have quite a forensic knowledge, because it is not a minor deal to put together a tender for a large project, and would likely have a great deal more detail than the average person. I would be cautious about dismissing - we are not doing that - something because somebody is upset that he or she did not get a contract....
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: Did we not agree the last day to write to him about how this issue had arisen and to ask from whom he had received the information in question? I understood we had agreed to take that course of action.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: Did NAMA identify the issue or did the Comptroller and Auditor General find it?
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: When is it likely that a delegation from NAMA will come before the committee again?
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: An issue I have raised on previous occasions is that there has been only one complaint to An Garda Síochána under section 172(3) of the NAMA Act 2009. Do we have any way of finding out where it is in the system? It was a complaint submitted by an individual three years ago that an asset had been sold back to the connected person. NAMA did not accept that there was an issue. I am...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: Yes. I have tabled parliamentary questions about it, but the responses have been a bit evasive. It has been indicated that there will be a register showing the beneficial owner, but that does not address the issue which arises from the complaints procedure set out in this important section of the legislation. There was one complaint made three years ago and it is ongoing. It does not seem...
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: Okay.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: Yes; that is the point.
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (13 Jun 2019)
Catherine Murphy: The Chair wishes to hold it over until next week.