Results 18,601-18,620 of 21,499 for speaker:Mary Lou McDonald
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: I thank Mr. Watt for putting that on the record. Will he give us that breakdown?
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Where the forklift allowance is concerned, "Driving a forklift" is an excellent case to make. I would be more worried if the forklift was not being driven. Are these drivers in question in Customs and Excise?
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: It jumped out at me. Forklift driving is not something one would associate with the Civil Service.
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: They certainly do, and they are to be commended on them.
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Absolutely.
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: They do outstanding work for the most part and must be commended. Mr. Watt correctly pointed out that the total spend in question is €4.7 million, with the numbers employed in the Civil Service at 35,000. On this basis, it is small beans. None the less, I will make a point about the work that is under way. A system such as this does civil servants a great disservice. Open to...
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: In respect of this particular payment, which is unvouched, although I know people must make a declaration at the end of the year, it is hugely problematic for everyone concerned.
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: I appreciate that progress has been made on all of these matters as against the last Administration and previous Administrations. That is unquestionably the case, but we must still acknowledge that there is a big problem when, in this case, we have €5 million in travel and accommodation expenses being paid out. I am not making a judgment on the integrity of any Member in the use of...
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: On those different elements I went through with Mr. Coughlan, it would be interesting to take all the figures, break them down individually and in respect of the unvouched elements, including travel, put the figures together and total them to see how much money is exiting the system without adequate accountability and an adequate paper trail and, in respect of the costs of the committees and...
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: I am right in saying, therefore, that these payments to Independent Deputies and Senators do not have to be accounted for in the same way as payments to a political party. I am not asking Mr. Watt to make a value judgment on that.
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: They are unvouched.
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Certainly.
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Can we take it that the Minister's review of allowances, expenses and all these payments will be done in a holistic way and that he will examine not only the leader's allowance but each of the tranches of expenditure?
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: I am conscious I do not have time to move on to the Civil service allowance issues and I might return to those later in the meeting. I will finish by giving a view on this to the Minister's Department in particular. The era of unvouched expenses has to end and that is an absolute necessity. The scale of the allowances being paid must be revisited with an eye to cost reduction. Certainly,...
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: We have some information in front of us but, as I indicated, I do not think it is entirely comprehensive. It would be instructive to carry out a case study on particular officeholders, say, the Taoiseach, and in saying that, I am not personalising this to the current occupant of the office. It is a salary of €200,000 and expenses, I understand, of €118,981 although that figure...
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: I am reading the document in which it states that members holding certain offices of Oireachtas committees have an additional telephone allowance of €11,000 annually, which is paid quarterly. So that figure should be €1,100?
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Thank God for that. I only wish there were several more typographical errors. Does that additional payment of €1,100 go to other members, as well as to the chairpersons of committees? Is that payment unique to the chairpersons of the various committees?
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: An impression is created in the document that it might go elsewhere.
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: It would have been useful to have that noted in the document. I will now focus on the cost of the committees. One must take account of the additional allowance for the chairperson, payments to the Seanad Select Committee on members' interests and to the commission. That comes to a startling figure of €266,500 per annum. Is that calculation correct? The reason I am raising the...
- Public Accounts Committee: Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Houses of the Oireachtas Commission - Review of Allowances (23 Oct 2012)
Mary Lou McDonald: Will Mr. Watt develop that point? He estimates that the allowances to those serving on committees could cost €400,000.