Results 1-20 of 108 for speaker:Joe Neville

Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: In six months since I was elected, I have received many emails, calls and texts from concerned parents in towns such as Kilcock, Celbridge, Leixlip, Maynooth and Naas who are struggling to find special education places for their children. This Government has promised to increase the number of special schools and special classes across the country. I acknowledge the work that has been done...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: Could the Comptroller and Auditor General add some context regarding the number of statements we are going to see? There were 26 there. Is this everything in the education sector?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: I am just curious because one might see a trend. At the first meeting, one gets hit with education and wonders whether it will involve a lot of education bodies. To add context, the Comptroller and Auditor General is saying this is about one third, or slightly less than that.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: I was just curious about that. Procurement jumps out as an issue. Is that a trend with the rest of them or is it a general issue? The Comptroller and Auditor General found fault with a number of them.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: I was surprised to hear Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board, KWETB, included because it had issues in the past. I would have expected its procurement to be clean as a whistle. I was surprised to see that. Data breaches and-or cyberattacks jumped out a few times. That had an impact on costs. I do not have a specific question but it is something that jumped out to me. ...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: If it was 4% interest over two years, it is not hard.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: No, it is not, not with that amount of money.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: I thank Mr. McCarthy for going through that. There is a lot of interesting stuff. Just following up on the CEO, it is called a settlement. A settlement would typically indicate that somebody has moved on, but obviously this person was reappointed to a different role within the same group. We know that it is called strategic. Strategic can mean anything; it is very open. Do we know what...

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: When we meet with them, we will be able to go through a job description. When somebody keeps the same salary as the CEO, it would indicate that it should be a very senior role. If it is not, it obviously creates more questions. It is important that Mr. McCarthy has raised it because, as he has said, when it is somebody in a very senior position, it has to be called out and questioned....

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: Was the €250,000 loss and the inability to claim it due to failure in process?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: The contractor one there was very interesting, I think it was the pre-hospital emergency-----

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: Yes. I have been in business and we have had a lot of contracts. I have never made the mistake where we have contractors who turn out to be employees and were treated in one way. That would also indicate a large failure in process, procedure and how things are dealt with. It is one thing to have to pay the extra tax. Is that PRSI?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: There would be employer's PRSI. Did it pay any other taxes on behalf of the people?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: That would be the individual liabilities for those contractors. Those contractors were paid a certain way, and because they were redesignated as employees, there were additional costs which obviously would have gone to the contractors but instead the State had to pay them. Is that correct?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: So the State had to pay an additional bill. If it had been done correctly, it would have paid them correctly and would not have been in that situation. There was obviously a major significant error.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: I do not want to bury the lead. The most material number there is probably the €107 million for the national paediatric hospital. We can talk about the €250,000 and the €800,000, but that is the number that jumps off the page.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: Will we be able to go through those individual circumstances?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: That will provide us with an opportunity to go through that in detail.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: I ask for clarity on that. Are we just moving on?

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (15 May 2025)

Joe Neville: Sorry, I thought we were moving on to No. 91. Apologies. Just mark me down.