Results 1-20 of 1,170,487 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:John Dolan OR speaker:Denis Naughten OR speaker:Barry Cowen OR speaker:Malcolm Noonan OR speaker:Paul McAuliffe OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Darragh O'Brien OR speaker:Martin Browne OR speaker:Claire Kerrane OR speaker:Peadar Tóibín OR speaker:Colm Burke OR speaker:Francis Noel Duffy OR speaker:Pat Buckley OR speaker:Marian Harkin OR speaker:Catherine Murphy OR speaker:Patrick O'Donovan OR speaker:Fergus O'Dowd OR speaker:Paul Murphy OR speaker:Robert Troy OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Simon Harris OR speaker:Sorca Clarke OR speaker:Mary Lou McDonald OR speaker:Paschal Donohoe OR speaker:Frank Feighan OR speaker:Mick Barry OR speaker:Heather Humphreys OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:David Cullinane OR speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett OR speaker:Ruairi Ó Murchú OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív OR speaker:Helen McEntee OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan OR speaker:Mark Ward OR speaker:Jackie Cahill OR speaker:Bernard Durkan OR speaker:Paul Donnelly OR speaker:Louise O'Reilly OR speaker:Éamon Ó Cuív5 OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:Patricia Ryan OR speaker:Pa Daly OR speaker:Seán Haughey OR speaker:Christopher O'Sullivan OR speaker:Dessie Ellis) in 'Committee meetings'

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (24 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: I thank the committee members for the opportunity to speak to them this afternoon to present the 2024 Supplementary Estimates for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. My officials have provided briefing material to the secretariat of the committee, which hopefully will be of assistance to members. This Estimate provides for a net increase of...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (24 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: Yes, absolutely. The €116 million in the main goes towards the €1,000 reduction in the student registration charge. I think it is fair to say we have to keep in context the fact that over the lifetime of this Government, we have done a lot of work to reform the SUSI grant system. We have increased thresholds and grant amounts. We also made technical adjustments to the scheme...

Select Committee on Education and Skills: Estimates for Public Services 2024
Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (Supplementary) (24 Oct 2024)

Niall Collins: A long campaign has been waged by various stakeholders in that cohort of students. We have done a lot of work. We spend a lot of our time speaking about apprenticeships and higher education but part of our remit is research. We have reformed significantly the legislation and organisations that oversee and are charged with managing our research as well as with supporting people through...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I acknowledge the Cathaoirleach's new position. I have no doubt but that she will continue the good work of the previous Chair in chairing this committee and doing it in a cross-party way. Our work in this committee is very important, but so is the way we do our work. It is important and different from other committees. I acknowledge this point. I thank Mr. Gloster and all the team for...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I saw a figure regarding the outpatient waiting lists having been reduced by 50,000 people. Mr. Gloster is saying this is a real reduction rather than a validation exercise.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Will Mr. Gloster repeat that figure?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I accept that point. The experience just shone a light on the outpatients waiting list for me.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: We do not know, but this may be the last or the second last meeting of this committee. It will certainly be the last meeting during this Dáil when Mr. Gloster will be before us anyway.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I am very much cognisant of the volume of money associated with this hearing. We are talking about €23.5 billion. Many Government Departments could be folded into that figure. In 2019, the figure was €16 billion. Essentially, there has been a 46% increase in the funding of the HSE over the past four years, that is, the lifetime of this Government. In 60 seconds, can Mr....

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: I would love to explore that point more but I just do not have the time. Turning to the non-compliant procurement, this is the first thing we look at in this committee. The HSE estimated that the total expenditure on goods and services subject to procurement rules was €4.2 billion. Again, this amount is multiples of an entire Government Department in some cases. The idea that...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: When the HSE did the self-assessed audit, there was a very significant percentage of either non-co-operation or where you could not identify the purchaser. The figure of 12% actually could be higher.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Just to return to that point, Mr. Mulvany is saying the figure of 12% does include the 13% of invoices within the scope of the exercise where either the manager responsible could not be identified or where the manager failed to respond to the exercise. He is saying that 13% is deemed non-compliant and is included in the 12%.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Will the C and AG confirm that?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Paul McAuliffe: Can we get a note back on that?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I welcome all the witnesses. Mr. Gloster, in his opening statement, mentioned the number of staff in August 2024 and said that the "growth is 23.3% since December 2019". Has the WRC change from a 39-hour week to a 37.5-hour week been part of the calibration?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: Has Mr. Gloster responded to the INMO with that information?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: On the 2,000 posts that were suppressed in advance of the embargo being lifted, Mr. Gloster gave us the figure for August 2024. Will he please give us the figure for December 2023?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: Yes

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: I, too, picked up on the overtime payment and wonder how it happened. During a weekend night call-out in 2023, the employee was paid a rate of six hours' pay per patient for each of the four patients treated in a single period of 60 minutes. That same point was made by Deputy Kelly. It cost in excess of €2,800 for the call, which is an extraordinary amount. I can see the HSE's...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2023: Health Service Executive (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Murphy: This situation happens when the consultant is called in to a hospital, I presume, to see patients and there is nobody else to cover that. This person would have come in and seen four patients, and that is essentially how it happened.