Results 221-240 of 27,668 for speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Funnily enough, I do not argue with much of the spirit or detail of the Senator's contribution. While I do not blame the board, one of the problems with the current arrangement was that it placed a very open advertisement. When one places an open advertisement, one inevitably receives a great number of applications. If we had left the application period open for another three months, we would...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I do not have any say at the moment.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: To explain to the Senator, I have quite rightly no say currently. I have made no representation to or approached the board or any board member on the disbursal of as much as a cent.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: No. Using the methodology we used recently in RAPID areas, where adequate Exchequer funds cannot be provided, we can decide in consultation with area implementation teams, which are broadly representative of their communities, to apportion fairly and transparently a certain amount of funds to a particular need in cases of social disadvantage. Having discussed such measures with implementation...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Certainly. As it is the reason I stood for election, I defend my right as a politician to create coherence in the way the State moves forward. The other issue is the ownership of the money. If we knew in detail who owned the money, those owners could claim it back. That would be their preference. The problem is that nobody knows who owns this money. It was placed in a special fund and is akin...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Groups should be invited to make their applications having been informed of the proposed level of allocation and in the sure knowledge that as long as they follow the criteria set out, they can put in the time and effort with a 100% guarantee of success. I have operated many schemes on this basis.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: The system has been very successful in that the beneficiaries on the ground feel the approach is a much more satisfactory way to disburse funds than either of the traditional methods. We have examined these issues in my Department. In respect of the once-off grants we give out, we receive 30 times as many applications as we can fund. A great deal of frustration builds up in these...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I am sorry that my explanation of how one creates the transparency the Senator requires passed over his head.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: What will happen, as happens already regarding other schemes in my Department, is that there will be clear criteria by which the various programmes will be adjudicated. These will be public knowledge and the Senator and the dormant accounts board will be able to measure absolutely when reviewing each year's work whether the disbursal method was transparent, objective criteria existed and the...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: What I said then was that as long as a board is independent, it remains independent.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: However, where the decision rests with the Minister, it will be made fairly, objectively and properly. That is what I said.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: If the Senator checks the record in terms of decision making and the procedures followed in my Department, he will find that I inherited in 1997 some schemes from the previous Government that had not——

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I created many more schemes and they all operate according to very clear, transparent criteria. In many schemes the decision making on the individual items is not made by me but by the relevant groups. The main advantage of the proposed system is that, rather than being dependent on a small number of civil servants and contract workers in ADM, we will be able to bring the expertise of the...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I have. It has always stood to the test.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Moreover, the Senator's own colleague, Deputy McGinley, who attended a committee of the Dáil——

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: Yes. Let us put it on the record.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: He attended a committee of the Dáil regarding scéim na mbóithre áise, the moneys pertaining to which I accept had been badly spent in the past. He said the reinstatement of that scheme, which had been abandoned while the Senator's party was in Government, was welcome. He complimented me on spending the money fairly.

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: If the Senator checks the parliamentary question——

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: If the Senators check yesterday's Dáil record, they will note that I replied to a parliamentary question in respect of the disbursal of Gaeltacht capital moneys and that no allegation can be made against me of being biased in favour of County Galway. I am absolutely happy we are not guilty of the malign intent the Opposition is trying to pin on us and that our proposals, in terms of criteria...

Seanad: Dormant Accounts (Amendment) Bill 2004: Committee Stage. (7 Jul 2004)

Éamon Ó Cuív: I can answer that question in the affirmative. Any Deputy, Senator or public representative has always got the same treatment from me. If Senator Finucane checks with his colleagues, he will find that to be a fact. In operating a scheme I might decide, after consultation, to spend, for example, €4 million on adult education. In many of the mechanisms I am now operating, the courses which...