Results 15,261-15,280 of 26,610 for speaker:David Cullinane

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: I flew too low is right. In any event, I still think there was a sleight of hand in how the percentage was calculated. Can I ask a quick question about the profits of re-domiciled firms? I am trying to understand that as well. Let us say that company A makes X in profits, and those profits are taxed in Ireland. The economic activity which underpin those profits, the production of the...

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Exactly. That is it. It might not make the goods here. They are made in Belgium, France or Germany, but the company is in Ireland because of our corporation tax rates, availing of the incentives we give them, including at one point the double Irish. When we look at the real distorting elements, is the full picture that Ireland is essentially a tax haven? Is that what the figures show?

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Mr. McCarthy would not say it, but is it a possibility?

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Firms that do not make anything here.

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: However, they put their profits here, some of them paying less than-----

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Exactly.

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Hang on a second. That purely national accounting element is then calculated into the GDP, which is the problem.

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: Sorry, I meant to say GNI.

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: I meant to say GNI.

Public Accounts Committee: Chapter 1 - Exchequer Financial Outturn for 2016
Chapter 2 - Government Debt
Chapter 24 - Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (19 Apr 2018)

David Cullinane: As a final observation, a lot of this area is very complex, and it may be deliberately so. I was sincere in saying that Mr. McCarthy is very capable and knowledgeable on it, which is good. I ask him to give the committee a detailed note on it, because-----

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

David Cullinane: I apologise for being late. I got stuck in traffic.

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

David Cullinane: There seems to be an over-reliance on the voluntary code of practice. I agree with my colleague that there is no sanction on any of this. At what point do we advocate that there should be sanction? We had a periodic report and we dealt with some of this. It is not our role to sanction. All we can do is hold public bodies to account. I imagine we can in future reports advocate there...

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

David Cullinane: I would not want to appear before the committee anyway and that is for sure. In respect of the last paragraph of Mr. Watt's letter, I suppose we could be helpful to him because we do like to help out Accounting Officers. He states, "Notwithstanding the above, I will give consideration as to whether it might be appropriate to develop specific guidelines in terms of expenditure on staff...

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

David Cullinane: If we are going to hold it over, perhaps the Comptroller and Auditor General could do a note for us for the next meeting. The Secretary General has now given an instruction that the post reviews be published and we should welcome that because that is a positive that came from our hearings and putting a spotlight on it. In respect of the post-project reviews, does Mr. McCarthy know now who...

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?