Results 17,041-17,060 of 34,663 for speaker:Seán Fleming

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: People might be aware of an issue. Staff in family resource centres are employed by private companies.

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: Generally, though, the staff are-----

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: When some staff pursue matters of their pay and terms and conditions, they try to bring Tusla before the Workplace Relations Commission, but Tusla is steadfast about not doing so. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: I wish to go through page 2 of the financial performance summary. It deals with pay and staff numbers. The table on page 2 shows that, from 2015 to 2016, there was an increase of 136 whole-time equivalent staff. This is contained in Tusla document No. 817A.

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: Yes. Between December 2015 and the end of December 2016, there was an increase of 136 whole-time equivalent staff, but Tusla only had an additional 18 in 2017. Why has it ground to a halt? I will read on to complete the question. The final paragraph in that section below the table reads:Currently, Tusla's Human Resources recruitment function is progressing 304 posts that are at varying...

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: Is that one of the biggest turnovers for any State organisation?

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: Why was there such a big turnover? There were 250 staff hired, so next year if Tusla recruits the extra 145 posts at that rate it will not even match the levers.

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: Reading that, one would think it is great news, but more people are leaving than are being recruited.

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: How many does Tusla hope to have before the end of this year?

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: Mr. McBride is saying that Tusla is well on the road.

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: Does the HSE have a similar retention problem? I would not have thought so.

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: To hold on to what an organisation has.

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: I want to go to the accounts on page 33 and I will also deal with pages 34 and 35. On page 33, there is a heading on note 2 regarding net operating surplus. Regularly at the Committee of Public Accounts people give out about the level of expenses of board members and senior executives, and it makes great headlines, but I want to say, and I suspect it will not be reported, that on page 33,...

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: I am paying Mr. McBride a compliment.

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: That is obvious, and it is the lowest I have ever seen in a set of accounts and Mr. McBride is to be commended. Then I move to page 34 and look at board members' fees, and I see some directors have waived their fees entirely. That is a great news item that I have not seen too often before, and the directors concerned are to be complimented if they feel they want to provide all of their time...

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: I presume their hearts are in the right place, and it says something to me about the board that some do not take their fee and do not even claim travel. We do not see it very often in the Committee of Public Accounts and I want to highlight it. The committee had quite detailed discussions about another person's travel and expenses, and it is important from the board's point of view to put...

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: Believe it or not, people do watch Oireachtas television, and I ask Mr. McBride to explain to the viewers the difference between social workers and social care workers.

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: I understand. Page 20 deals with the emergency out of hours service. How much financially has Tusla invested in this? It states the emergency out of hours service provides a call centre, with access to a local on-call social worker for An Garda Síochána for consultation and advice. What does that mean? What is the relationship? The word "local" is used. For example, how many...

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: What kind of cost is involved? Clearly it is a very important issue.

Public Accounts Committee: Tusla - Financial Statements 2016 (19 Oct 2017)

Seán Fleming: What Mr. McBride is saying is that a member of the Garda Síochána comes across an incident first, and he or she then rings the social worker and it is not the other way around.