Results 441-460 of 1,186,157 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Damien English OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Catherine Murphy OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Mairead Farrell OR speaker:Neale Richmond OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Hildegarde Naughton OR speaker:Thomas Pringle OR speaker:John McGuinness OR speaker:Róisín Shortall OR speaker:Eamon Ryan OR speaker:Kieran O'Donnell OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Brian Leddin OR speaker:Seán Sherlock OR speaker:Pippa Hackett OR speaker:John Lahart OR speaker:Gino Kenny OR speaker:Michael Collins OR speaker:Malcolm Noonan OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Martin Kenny OR speaker:Michael Creed OR speaker:Ossian Smyth OR speaker:Catherine Connolly OR speaker:Ciarán Cannon OR speaker:Michael Lowry OR speaker:Joan Collins OR speaker:Steven Matthews OR speaker:Pearse Doherty OR speaker:Chris Andrews OR speaker:Pa Daly OR speaker:Alan Farrell OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Heather Humphreys)

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: We have all said there was an utter disregard of taxpayers' money in this instance. That is what people think. Could Mr. Conlon answer my question on that?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Then why were we told initially that it would be €200,000? It is a massive increase.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Who was responsible for the underestimation? Was it the contractor?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Which teams?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Which teams?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: We have the public sector spending code for a reason. What I understand is that the Department of children and equality did not prepare a strategic assessment report or business case reports, preliminary and final, as required by the code for projects costing more than €100 million. Does that not seem strange?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: Deputy Kelly’s time is up. I will briefly follow on from that. I remember the OPW being before this committee previously talking about these modular homes before they started. We were told they could be picked up and lifted somewhere else. As has been pointed out, there is a huge amount of money that cannot be picked up and moved elsewhere, such as money spent on site works,...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: While Mr. Conlon may not have said it, it was said in a previous hearing of this committee when we talked about the prices of these homes going way back.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: It makes no sense to me either. Do they have planning permission for anything other than their current use? Do they require planning permission if they are being used for something else?

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: Okay. I now move to Deputy O'Connor.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Financial Supports for Tertiary Level Students: Discussion (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: I am sorry that I was delayed. I have another committee meeting as well. The main issue that consistently comes up from students is accommodation. How many have dropped out at this point because they are unable to get accommodation? If they do not have the data for this year, are the numbers for last year available?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Financial Supports for Tertiary Level Students: Discussion (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Is USI going to compile it?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Financial Supports for Tertiary Level Students: Discussion (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: An issue came up with me recently is that of somebody in digs who, as part of their SUSI application, was asked to provide a utility bill. Obviously if a person is in digs, he or she will not have a utility bill. Because of the lack of regulation in the sector, some students are going to pay cash. It does not give them the details. Is that a further reason to have digs regulation? Have...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Financial Supports for Tertiary Level Students: Discussion (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: Another big issue that comes up a great deal is independence and proof of independence. I am not exactly sure, to be totally frank, how to change that. However, the whole issue of independence and people trying but not being able to prove their independence to get a grant s probably one of the main issues that I come across when it comes to SUSI. Do witnesses agree that is an issue?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Financial Supports for Tertiary Level Students: Discussion (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: There was not a massive amount of change in the SUSI grants in the budget. Some of the thresholds changed. I asked the Minister how many students that would impact. He said about 3,000. If I am not mistaken, there are 15,000 in Galway alone, so it is impacting a very small number of people. Has USI noticed more and more that while people might think at the start that they are able to go...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Financial Supports for Tertiary Level Students: Discussion (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: It is huge. I was contacted by a PhD researcher. Researchers do not pay tax on their stipend and are not able to get the renter's tax credit. Has USI raised that with the Department of Finance?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Financial Supports for Tertiary Level Students: Discussion (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: In the future, though it should be immediate, we need to figure out what exactly affordable student accommodation is. Everybody needs to come together. I know we are waiting on the student accommodation strategy, which USI has raised countless times with me and, I am sure, with the Minister. It is frustrating that we still do not have that. We need to bring USI, the Department, Irish...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Financial Supports for Tertiary Level Students: Discussion (22 Oct 2024)

Mairead Farrell: My time is up. I thank the witnesses. They do significant work, which is stressful because they are dealing with people in serious crisis situations. It is trying to figure out how to help them. In many cases, unfortunately, there is very little help for people. Fair play to USI. I look forward to joining the witnesses on their protest.

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Ciarán Cannon: Let us take the OPW's estimate of €70 million, bearing in mind how inaccurate some estimates have proven to be within the OPW recently in developing much smaller developments. Does it not cause Mr. Conlon a great degree of concern that the OPW is proposing to spend €70 million, at a minimum, on a national children's science centre in the middle of Dublin, a very busy city,...

Public Accounts Committee: Appropriation Accounts 2023
Vote 13 - Office of Public Works (22 Oct 2024)

Ciarán Cannon: It is not a question of it feeling threatened. I am suggesting it should become the national children's science centre, bearing in mind it is already there and is visited by up to 250,000 children every year. With an investment of a fraction of the €70 million of taxpayers' money we are proposing to spend, which I still think is a very conservative estimate, it could and should...