Results 1,581-1,600 of 6,627 for speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh

Gaza and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide: Motion [Private Members] (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion. I thank the thousands of people who have taken the time to email and call my office. I thank everyone who has taken to the streets to push and to drive an Irish stance on this issue. We have wanted to have a collective stance as a nation, sending out a very clear message. That public pressure and activism is needed now more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Crisis in Ireland's Inshore Fishing Industry: Discussion (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I really appreciate that Chair because I am not a member of this committee, as he knows. I welcome the witnesses here today, particularly Eamon from Belmullet. I will ask a couple of quick questions together. We have been fighting for a long time for the fair distribution of quotas. What rationale has the Minister given for not addressing the fact that 95% of the fishing fleet is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Crisis in Ireland's Inshore Fishing Industry: Discussion (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: That was negligence on the part of the Minister in not making the fund available.

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Public Sector Pay (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: 100. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated cost to the Exchequer of an increase of 1.5% or €750, whichever is greater, for all public sector workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3230/24]

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank the Minister for that. I will start with Vote 10 on the Tax Appeals Commission. It deals with large and very complex legal cases against some of the wealthiest and most powerful corporations in the State. Naturally, the corporations wish to pay as little tax as possible and employ very competent and large legal teams in doing that. In 2021, there was a quantum of €4.2...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Okay. That will be grand if the Minister can clarify it. I will just go back to 2021. The chair of the Tax Appeals Commission stated that she required an additional ten to 12 commissioners to adequately deal with the scale and complexity of the cases. That would have brought the total staffing numbers up to 40. Does the Minister know what the current staffing levels are in terms of...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: That is just short of the 40. Does the Minister know how many of those have legal qualifications? I know that is a bit minute but it is important. We have to get a balance here in terms of what they are dealing with, and the huge resources and legal teams that companies are dealing with as well.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Just the legal ones.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I thank the Minister. In respect of Vote 7, he has outlined in subheading VII for his Department that it will cover in part the requirement for private consultants. He has allocated €100,000 for policy reviews, consultancy services and research. That figure was €150,000 in 2023. In a written response to me on 20 April 2023, the Minister informed me that his Department...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: In the correspondence I got back from the Minister, €2.5 million was allocated to Oliver Wyman for a resource allocation analysis and associated professional services. What is that?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: That was for 2023, under your own Department where I have a list.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: It is from the Minister, yes. The question I asked was the costs for consultancies under his Department, the bodies under the aegis of the Department of Finance. I have that list. That one stood out as being much larger than all the rest at €2.5 million.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: It does.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: No, sorry, it separates it out by consultant and the purpose of the contract and the value of the contract. The consultant is Oliver Wyman and the purpose is resource allocation analysis and associated professional services. I am not picking that for any other reason than that it is substantially higher.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: I will just state- maybe this is something for the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, under public expenditure rather than yourself - it is very challenging trying to find out why and how much money is allocated for consultants. My concern is if we are losing so much expertise within the Departments that we really need to have and to build up as an asset for the State, rather than contracting...

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Does the Department of Finance do internships in terms of recruitment out of colleges?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: How many would you take on in the Department? It is a very competitive field in respect of graduates coming out of colleges. The Government and Departments have to be able to get the brightest and the best, to attract them in the first instance and then to retain them. Perhaps the Minister can give me a picture of how many and so on.

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Is the Minister able to tell me how many?

Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised)
Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (Revised)
Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners (Revised)
Vote 10 - Tax Appeals Commission (Revised) (24 Jan 2024)

Rose Conway-Walsh: Obviously, when we are looking at a brain drain and people moving all over the world, including to Australia and all that, it is a challenge for us to retain the people we need here.