Results 1-20 of 3,452 for at speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: ...everyone to switch off their mobile phones or place them in silent mode. On behalf of the committee, I welcome the two newly appointed members, Deputy Ciarán Cannon, who will perhaps arrive later in the morning, and Deputy Damien English. These are two promotions within Fine Gael. Before we start, I wish to explain some limitations to parliamentary privilege and the practices of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: That is what I am trying to get at. The expenditure is around €260 million.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: At this point, what is the percentage of the €260 million?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: I have some other questions about buildings and the school hall or sports hall issue. St. Fergal's College in Rathdowney has applied for a hall. There have been meetings with Ministers and Department officials. Some of the witnesses were at those meetings. The school is growing in size because there Ukrainian and international protection children in town. St. Fergal's has had planning...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: I also want to ask about modular building at Kolbe Special School. I have raised this matter over and over again. Ministers have come down and films and videos have been made about it. At the moment, the accommodation works have been held up and there have been different delays over the years. The staff and parents are challenged. I visited that school when the pupils were there. The...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: Just tell me where that project is at now.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: The other question relates to Coláiste Dhún Másc. We have spoken about forward planning and so on. There is a huge need for places at secondary level and at primary level, which we will come back to later in the context of Portlaoise. What is happening with Coláiste Dhún Másc?

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: Over the last couple of weeks I have been trying to gather figures from different schools. My secretary has checked with nearly all the schools in the area at this stage. We have found that with the primary schools there is a question about people applying to a number of different schools which you termed dual or multiple applications. I spoke to a principal as late as yesterday evening...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: I am asking about need in the county at primary and post-primary level.

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: I will raise the conditions in the two ASD modular units at Barrowhouse National School in which the principal, teachers and other staff are working. The units were held up for years because the school was told to get a design team and do the work and preparation itself. That went on for years. Then the units were delayed and the Department of Education stepped in and told the school to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2022 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 26 - Office of Minister for Education (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: I am asking Mr. Loftus about this issue because the school has no physical extra space at the moment. The school has also applied for permanent classrooms which it also needs. The most chronic need is for two modular classrooms for the ASD classes. What is in place at the moment is totally unsuitable. I ask Mr. Loftus to give that project absolute priority.

Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (16 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: Do members wish to comment on the accounts and financial statements? Can we agree to note the listing of accounts and financial statements? That is agreed. As usual, the list of accounts and financial statements will be published as part of the minutes. Moving to correspondence, as previously agreed, items that were not flagged for discussion for this meeting will be dealt with in...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: University of Limerick (9 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: Apologies have been received from Deputies John Brady, Marc Ó Cathasaigh and Imelda Munster. The witnesses are all very welcome. I apologise for the late start to the meeting but we had some unavoidable private business to deal with. I remind all those in attendance to ensure their mobile phones are on silent mode or switched off. Before we start, I wish to explain some...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: University of Limerick (9 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: Professor Kilcommins was provost at that stage.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: University of Limerick (9 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: At the time, we felt it was important. I remember the reason that was given at the meeting and I just wanted to quote that.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: University of Limerick (9 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: Many people, including me, find this unusual, given the history of the Dunnes Stores site. That site was bought for some €5 million more than the previous valuation and here we are again talking about similar sums of money. There could be a wide variation in terms of valuation when it comes to a commercial property but it is not the same with houses. I can tell Professor Kilcommins...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: University of Limerick (9 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: The price for Rhebogue far exceeded what it would make on the open market as residential property, as homes. Was the issue of the price and valuation and also the fact it was being designated as a commercial purchase raised at that committee?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: University of Limerick (9 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: -----on what is called the "open market". It is the same as me getting a mortgage and buying one of them. The university was buying 20 houses. It was not buying them commercially. It would subsequently become commercial at the point at which they came into the university. The university may have a commercial dimension then, in that it becomes student accommodation by changing the sitting...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: University of Limerick (9 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: I am taking on board what Professor Kilcommins is saying but what I am trying to reconcile in my head is that the university was not buying individual units or buildings with four self-contained units in them. It was buying three-bedroom homes. That is the point I am trying to make. There are 30 pages in the policy for the acquisition of new property and buildings, land and infrastructure....

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: University of Limerick (9 May 2024)

Brian Stanley: If somebody is going to buy a bullock that is a year old he or she does not buy it at the value of what it will be when it is three years old and fully fattened. It is a ridiculous situation.