Results 16,241-16,260 of 28,162 for speaker:Catherine Murphy

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: I ask Mr. Bourke to put it briefly.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: How much does this side agreement cost? Do we have that information? Are those costs factored in?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: Essentially the OPW gets the building in this condition, it carries out the refurbishment to suit the people who are going to occupy it and then carries out the maintenance. The OPW has paid the rent for the duration of the lease and it maintains the building for that time. The landlord gets the building back in pristine condition to renew a lease over whatever period. Is that what we are...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: That reinforces the point about purchase as opposed to rent, but I will not say anything further on that. During the process of negotiation of the lease, was the floor space different? I ask for my own understanding. Was the floor space then different from what it was when the lease was finalised?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: What was it afterwards?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: There is quite a difference there. The OPW negotiated something.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: When OPW officials agree to something like this, they draw up a lease agreement, or legal people do it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: Did the witnesses not notice the difference between the numbers?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: I cannot get my head around one aspect of this. According to paragraph 6.15, the OPW agreed 13,293 sq. m of office space. The agency negotiated and signed off on that. Who draws up the lease in these cases? Is it the people who are leasing it, the Chief State Solicitor or the OPW's own solicitor?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: The OPW knew what the figures were.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: Well, its agents knew the floor space was 13,293 sq. m when they negotiated it.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: That is what the OPW agreed in negotiations.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: It certainly was not clear to me. I could not figure out how one figure could be so substantially different from the other.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: When the OPW was negotiating the lease, were the measurement criteria different, or were they the same as when the lease was drafted?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: Is that provided for anywhere in the negotiated lease or the paperwork or was it just agreed with a handshake?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: Do the witnesses have documentation?

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: There is documentation to support that the expectation was subject to the remeasurement. The amount would not change.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: Very well. The witnesses said this is a good deal overall. We are all aware of what Hawkins House looks like, what an awful building it is and the opportunity for redevelopment of that whole area. Some of it has started. However paragraph 6.35 refers to the delay in getting into the building, which added to the costs. The OPW disputed the quantum of the cost, given the refit and the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: What was the monetary cost? Costs of €331,000 were incurred between July 2017 and May 2018.

Public Accounts Committee: 2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works
Chapter 6: Lease of Offices at Miesian Plaza (11 Oct 2018)

Catherine Murphy: That was the period between July 2017 and May 2018.