Results 15,541-15,560 of 26,402 for speaker:David Cullinane

Leaders' Questions (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: Who has been held to account? Name them.

Leaders' Questions (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: Give us even one example.

Leaders' Questions (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: On Tuesday, the Committee of Public Accounts published its periodic report. It makes for sober reading on the level of oversight and accountability in the State. We need accountability in public office and the report gave us shining examples and illustrations of why we need a real change in Irish politics. One of those shining examples was the decision to reopen Stepaside Garda station....

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Good Friday Agreement (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: That is what we want too.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Good Friday Agreement (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: We support that.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Good Friday Agreement (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: 2. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the measures his Department is undertaking to protect the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts post Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3697/18]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Good Friday Agreement (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: The question is to seek an update from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and from the Minister on the measures that are being taken to protect the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts in the context of Brexit.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Good Friday Agreement (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: Michel Barnier, the EU chief Brexit negotiator, said in a parliamentary committee in Madrid on Tuesday that Ireland remains a source of uncertainty in the Brexit talks. As the Minister will know, the joint report and the communiqué that was agreed between Britain and the European Union was described in Europe as a "gentleman's agreement". It has been called a "backstop" agreement in...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Good Friday Agreement (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: I do not raise these issues to be critical of the Minister or the Government. I raise them because they are central and important to citizens in the North and because they underpin the Good Friday Agreement. My point is the Minister is right when he states we need to ensure that Irish citizens who live in the North should continue to enjoy the same rights they currently enjoy as EU...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: I want to relate this to the previous topic. The Chairman finished by stating that none of us in this committee would accept that the Deloitte report into the HEA was truly independent and other members have spoken about the process. That process is used repeatedly, not only by the HEA but by other organisations. At what point do we stop, reflect and look at what level of independence...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: The committee knows that I have been raising this issue for some time. I also brought the Waterford Institute of Technology issue to the attention of the Committee of Public Accounts and we had a very robust exchange with the president of WIT. I researched the matter when I was looking at the WIT situation and while there is a national policy to govern intellectual property it is actually...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: When I spoke to Dr. Love last week, he stated that the HEA's report on commercialising intellectual property was imminent. Indeed, it was due to be published this week. It may be published tomorrow or early next week. We will have it. We can then request the additional information on live and spin-out companies that may be in play in third level institutions. That information might be...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: I will ask Mr. McCarthy a question. When he reports to us on his audit of annual accounts and finds that there may be a problem with non-compliance with procurement guidelines, we get a commentary on that. What happens afterwards?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: If there is still non-compliance-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: He has given us information on it previously. While there may well have been progress in the public sector, a number of State bodies are still poor. The HSE is one where there is a large level-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: -----of non-compliance. My point was more directed at organisations of that scale, with hundreds of millions, if not billions, of euro of taxpayers' money. What happens if an organisation does not change? What sanctions are there? If the Comptroller and Auditor General is raising this matter and working with management but non-compliance keeps repeating every year, what-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: It is clear-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: On the State balance sheet.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: The line stating that "the requirement to ensure accountability in respect of the use of public funds must be balanced with the autonomy of HEIs" is a very polite way of telling us that we do not really have the right to ask some of the questions we want to ask.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (25 Jan 2018)

David Cullinane: It is similar, but one cannot even put it on the same scale because the vast majority of RTÉ's funding does come from the State. We had a discussion with some of them on these foundations, and whatever about those being foundations, here we are talking about the actual universities and institutes themselves. It is interesting that the paragraph from which I quoted comes at a time when,...