Results 15,061-15,080 of 26,396 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: First of all, there is no guarantee it will be wound down or closed so let us not fall for the spin. We will have to wait and see exactly what is announced. However, there are still questions about money that was spent, which is the reason we were asking him to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts. It was not about future spend; it was about past spend so that invitation should...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: Is the Comptroller and Auditor General saying that no clear objective was set before this unit was set up?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I have one point because I was somewhat critical, or at least I was asking questions around why some of the merger models were incurring more of a cost. When I examined this a bit closer, some of the institutes that are merging are at a more advanced stage, so there is a process. Some of them are behind. I know that in the case of Waterford and Carlow, they are way behind the Munster one,...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I refer to that issue because there was correspondence earlier on procurement guidelines in regard to DIT. I am sorry I missed the correspondence, which we have probably published, that came from the Higher Education Authority, HEA, on the review it carried out in 2017. It sits with this because it comes up an awful lot, not just in the education sector, but in the health sector and other...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: It strikes me that it is quite weak in terms of enforcement. That is the key issue in many of these issues; it is just a lack of enforcement. There is potential for improvements on the enforcement side.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I agree with that proposition. I also wish to make suggestion for the days it might free up. We have a provisional date scheduled for RTE's appearance. Is that to be confirmed?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: We should follow it up with RTE because that was part of our report yesterday as well. I also propose that we have a meeting with the Higher Education Authority, HEA. There are many issues that need to be pursued. For example, we still have to follow up on the education and training boards, ETBs, public procurement-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: Okay. Then it would be the Department of Education and Skills and the HEA, if necessary. That can be done on one day. There are the ETBs, the public procurement issue in the higher level institutes and foundations, which we discussed earlier. We still have the HEA's report on intellectual property. It did a global report so that needs to be examined with the authority. Can the...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: Okay.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: We have the global report that was done by the HEA. On a separate issue, we have scheduled a session on 14 June for the Comptroller and Auditor General's special report on the University of Limerick. That is obviously separate from the Thorn report. Are we going to deal with both of those on the same day?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I am suggesting that if we are going to have a session on the Comptroller and Auditor General's report-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: My suggestion is that we deal with both the Thorn report and the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the same day.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I am talking about the report on the University of Limerick.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: Is the Deputy speaking about the consultants' contracts?

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: We are here today to deal with chapter 15 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report 2016, which deals with the grant funding of Galway's art house cinema. Although approval for this facility with financial assistance of €8.4 million was obtained in 2007, the cinema opened only in February of last year. We will also be examining the Appropriation Account 2016, Vote 33: Arts,...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: We should give the Comptroller and Auditor General a gold star for his use of Connemara Irish. Well done on that. I invite Ms Licken to make her opening statement.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I thank the witness for that comprehensive opening statement. I remind witnesses that they could be asked to remain here until the afternoon, but we hope to complete the hearing before lunch if we can. There will be votes in the Dáil at about 12.50 p.m. Several speakers have already indicated, so I want to be fair to everybody and give them the time they are due. The list of speakers...

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: I remind Ms Licken that she can allow any of her colleagues to respond. If they have more detail, they are free to respond themselves.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: It is a private company.

Public Accounts Committee: 2016 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Chapter 15 - Galway Art House Cinema
Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (29 Mar 2018)

David Cullinane: Could Mr McCarthy clarify that?