Results 1-20 of 1,200 for speaker:Garret Ahearn

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Update on Departmental Priorities and Legislation: Department of Culture, Communications and Sport (2 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: It seems amazing that the Minister is still not convinced, even with all the conversations with the Arts Council, that this is even the end of it. The council has lost so much credibility that the Minister and the Department are still nervous about saying they are sure. I assume that last week the Minister found out at the same time as the Department the legal bill was double what the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Update on Departmental Priorities and Legislation: Department of Culture, Communications and Sport (2 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Was the Minister surprised the council did not include the VAT figure?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Update on Departmental Priorities and Legislation: Department of Culture, Communications and Sport (2 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Does the Minister almost feel he has to drag the information out of the council? A number of colleagues here have spoken about simple accounting things within the Arts Council and you would think that when you were talking about a figure you would include VAT. There is the fact that had to be dragged out of the council representatives to correct the record from two weeks ago and we see all...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Update on Departmental Priorities and Legislation: Department of Culture, Communications and Sport (2 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: A bit like the €140 million.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Update on Departmental Priorities and Legislation: Department of Culture, Communications and Sport (2 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: I have a final question. The Department officials confirmed yesterday they have written to the Data Protection Commission about a significant breach of data. I assume the Minister is aware of it and supports the Department in that. What is his personal view of a breach by a former employee that happened very recently? How serious does he think it is that someone would do this?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Update on Departmental Priorities and Legislation: Department of Culture, Communications and Sport (2 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: I will address my question to the Minister of State as his roles have been defined since the Departments changed. He spoke about female participation in sport. There is probably no better example than Irish soccer over the past number of years. There has been a 27% increase in female participation, largely down to the performance of the women's soccer team in the World Cup in Australia and...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Update on Departmental Priorities and Legislation: Department of Culture, Communications and Sport (2 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: I welcome the Minister and Minister of State to the committee. The Minister spoke a number of times about the waste of €7 million of taxpayers' money and trying to account for it and holding people to account. Certainly the Arts Council had a huge role of responsibility in this. In terms of the €7 million, quite a bit of it was spent on two companies in particular, namely,...

Seanad: An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: I too support my party colleagues' comments on the messages from the Minister for higher education about increasing fees in the next budget. I have got hundreds of calls from parents who are absolutely terrified of the cost that college fees will impose on them come September if there is an increase of €1,000.We know a lot of families who have two, three and even four people going to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: I have been in and out of the meeting for votes in the Seanad and have missed things so if I ask a question that has been asked already, my apologies. Mr. Ó Coigligh said that he has confidence that things have changed within the Department, and that he was not satisfied when he came in first about the situation with the Arts Council. He said when he was in here with the Arts Council...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: What did the officials think?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: What prompted the council to inform the Department?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Was it just a random phone call? Did the council ring him just to say it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Therefore, when the officials came here a couple of weeks ago with the Arts Council and it said it had spent €60,000 on legal fees so far they were, like us, of the view that information was correct. That bill comes back on the Department, so there are people pushing a legal case they do not personally have to pay for, or certainly the Arts Council does not, and we have now found it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Do the officials know when the Attorney General's office will come back to them with that advice? They did not two weeks ago, but do they now?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: As the weeks go on we are getting a worse outcome from the Arts Council.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Can Mr. Ó Coigligh expand on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: The Department had told the council to cease any work until the Attorney General came back with the advice.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: The council did not listen to the Department's direction.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport: Arts Council Grant Management IT System: Discussion (Resumed) (1 Jul 2025)

Garret Ahearn: Did the council tell the Department this work had been commissioned?