Written Answers Nos. 926-935
927. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide, in respect of State boards under her Department's remit, the number of appointments to such boards; the number of vacancies on State boards; the number of vacancies on State boards publically advertised; and the number of appointments to State boards drawn directly from the public advertisement process, in the period March 2011 to 2015 to date. [23579/15]
View answerIn 2014, the Government approved new guidelines covering the process to be used in making all appointments to State boards. The Public Appointments Service (PAS) has assumed responsibility for managing this new process and my Department has nominated a State Boards Liaison Officer, who will engage with PAS to ensure compliance with the guidelines.
Details regarding appointments to State boards in the bodies funded from my Department's Vote since the establishment of the Department on 2 June 2011 are provided in the table.
It should be noted that appointments to the boards of Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency, being agencies of the North South Implementation Body, An Foras Teanga, are made by the North South Ministerial Council, arising from nominations on a 50:50 basis from each jurisdiction.
|
Board |
Vacancies arising since the Department was established on 2 June 2011 |
Current Vacancies (2015) |
Appointments made since the Department was established on 2 June 2011 |
The number that were publicly advertised since March 2011 |
Number drawn from the public advertisement process since March 2011 |
|||||||
|
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
||||
|
National Gallery of Ireland |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
1 |
3 |
3 (there were also changes in 3 ex-officio positions on the Board and the nominee of the Royal Hibernian Academy) |
|
National Concert Hall |
15 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
15 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
12 |
12 |
|
National Library of Ireland |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
National Museum of Ireland |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
Irish Museum of Modern Art |
3 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
|
Irish Film Board |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
5 |
|
Arts Council |
7 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
11 |
9 (there was also 1 re-appointment) |
|
Heritage Council |
6 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
3 |
|
National Archives Advisory Council |
0 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
0 (no expressions of interest were received) |
|
Crawford Art Gallery |
0 |
0 |
9 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 (there were also 7 re-appointments and 1 ex-officio appointment) |
|
Chester Beatty Library |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
3 (there was also 1 ex-officio appointment and 1 appointment of a nominee of the Taoiseach) |
|
Údarás na Gaeltachta |
0 |
12 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
11 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
8 |
4 (there were also 5 appointments on foot of nominations by County Councils with Gaeltacht areas within their jurisdictions) |
|
Foras na Gaeilge |
15 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
15 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
|
Ulster-Scots Agency |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
N/A |
N/A |
928. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide, in tabular form, for each year from 2009 to date in 2015, the total number of freedom of information requests received by her Department; the total refused, granted and part-granted; the total number of successful appeals; the total number of part-successful appeals; the number of refusals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23602/15]
View answerThe information requested by the Deputy concerning the number of Freedom of Information requests processed by my Department since its establishment in June 2011 is set out in the following table.
|
Year |
Total Number of FOI Requests Received |
Number withdrawn or dealt with outside FOI |
Number Refused |
Number Granted in full |
Number Part Granted |
Number of Requests for Internal Review (Appeals) Received |
Number of Decisions overturned (successful) following Internal Review. |
Number of Decisions partially overturned (successful) following Internal Review. |
Number of Decisions upheld (refusals) following Internal Review. |
|
2011i |
27 |
2 |
4 |
4 |
17 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
|
2012 |
70 |
14 |
15 |
17 |
24 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
|
2013 |
56 |
11 |
10 |
17 |
18 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
|
2014 |
82 |
17 |
7 |
24 |
34 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
2015ii |
67* |
3 |
13 |
20 |
15 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
i June 2 – December 31 2011
ii There are 16 requests and one internal review pending decision at the time of preparation.
929. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when deer were introduced to the national park in Letterfrack, County Galway; when Lyme disease was detected in the deer herd; the steps being taken to eradicate this disease from the deer herd; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23621/15]
View answerHaving become extinct in the area during the mid-eighteenth century, native Red Deer were reintroduced into Connemara National Park in 1982. I understand that Lyme disease is carried by ticks and a study produced in 1999 detected Lyme disease in ticks found in Connemara. These ticks are not restricted to red deer and can be found on a variety of other animals, including mice, voles, hedgehogs, dogs, sheep and horses.
Information on Lyme disease is available from the HSE at the following website: http://www.hpsc.ie/A-Z/Vectorborne/LymeDisease/Informationforthepublic/
930. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide, in tabular form, the number, name and date of Bills initiated in her Department that have been subject to the pre-legislative scrutiny procedure in the Oireachtas. [23633/15]
View answer932. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide, in tabular form, the number, name and date of Bills initiated in her Department since September 2013. [23659/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 930 and 932 together.
While no Bills for which I have Ministerial responsibility have been formally initiated in the Oireachtas since September 2013, one Bill - the National Cultural Institutions (National Concert Hall) Bill - was published on 9 June 2015. That Bill was subject to pre-legislative scrutiny by the Oireachtas, as was the Official Languages (Amendment) Bill, which is expected to be published in the coming weeks.
In addition, the General Schemes of two other Bills have also been submitted for pre-legislative scrutiny by the Oireachtas as set out in the table. I await the outcome of the consideration of those matters by the Committee on Environment, Culture and the Gaeltacht. I should add that the Committee has indicated to my Department that it does not propose to undertake a scrutiny process in the case of the proposed Heritage (Amendment) Bill, which is due to be published later this year.
|
General Scheme |
Purpose |
|
National Cultural Institutions Bill (No. 2) |
To revise and update the governance arrangements in regard to the National Gallery, Irish Museum of Modern Art and Crawford Art Gallery Cork, including shared services. |
|
National Cultural Institutions Bill (No. 3) |
To revise and update the governance arrangements in regard to the National Library, National Museum and National Archives, including shared services. |
931. Deputy Marcella Corcoran Kennedy asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will advise of the conditions of the 2007 approval of funding for an arts centre (details supplied) in County Offaly. [23654/15]
View answerThe conditions attaching to this funding are similar to the conditions my Department applies to all large capital grants. These include a legal charge on the property for the amount of the grant, documentary proof that all matching funding is in place, the capping of the Department's contribution at the amount of the grant, full observance of public procurement rules, etc. My Department will write to the Deputy enclosing a full list of the conditions of the grant approved in principle in 2007.
933. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide, in tabular form, the total amount spent in each of the years 2011 to 2014 and in 2015 to date on staff subsistence payments and staff taxi payments; if her Department has been audited for tax compliance on these payments and other benefits-in-kind; if these processes have been revised in view of the Revenue Commissioners' concerns over practices in other State bodies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23675/15]
View answerThe total amount spent per annum in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and to date in 2015 on staff subsistence payments and on taxi payments where staff are engaged in official business is laid out in the following table.
|
- |
2011 € |
2012 € |
2013 € |
2014 € |
2015 € (to 12 June 2015) |
|
Staff Subsistence Payments |
528,823.93 |
570,528.62 |
522,597.55 |
474,142.36 |
199,038.87 |
|
Taxi Payments |
18,868.07 |
17,502.61 |
11,489.54 |
16,593.59 |
6,680.73 |
All travel and subsistence payments were made in accordance with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform guidance on such matters and I am advised that no benefit in kind issues arise. My Department has not been audited for tax compliance on these payments and other benefits in kind.
I understand, however, that such matters are kept under active review, in consultation with the Revenue Commissioners, as appropriate. In that context, following an internal review and an unprompted voluntary disclosure by my Department, a payment of €102,179 was made to the Revenue Commissioners in 2014. This was in respect of a benefit in kind liability for the period 2011-13 relating primarily to persons living in residential accommodation in or adjacent to national parks. I am advised that, as part of that exercise, my Department also conducted a comprehensive review of all its potential tax liabilities, but that no further liabilities or related matters emerged.
934. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide, in tabular form and by year, all external consultant reports commissioned by her Department since March 2011; the costs per report; the company involved; the title of the report; and the publication date. [23691/15]
View answerAs my Department was established on 2 June 2011, the requested information is being provided from that date. My Department commissioned nine reports since its establishment and the details requested by the Deputy are set out in the table. Contracts for the provision of services are not included. One of the reports, "Review of PSO Air Service for the Aran Islands" was published in May 2014. The "Updated Business Case for Restoring the Ulster Canal from Lough Erne to Clones" and the "Cost Benefit Analysis of the National Gallery Redevelopment Project" are published on the Department's website. The other reports have not been published.
For completeness, I wish to bring to the Deputy's attention that the University of Birmingham was commissioned in 2010 by the then Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, prior to the establishment of my Department, to undertake a review relating to peatlands. The resulting report, "Review of Archaeological Survey and Mitigation Policy relating to Bord na Móna Peatlands " was published in June 2013 and the associated costs of €34,337 were met by my Department.
I also wish to point out that my Department also commissions engineering or environmental experts from time to time to provide technical reports on specific issues, as required. While the providers of these services are consultant engineers, environmental consultants or may describe themselves in other such terms, their work is not classified as consultancy services and is not funded from my Department's Administrative Budget.
|
Year Report Commissioned |
Company |
Report |
Amount paid from 2 June 2011 to date |
|
2011 |
Avia Solutions |
Review of financial submissions relating to the Public Service Obligation Air Service for the Aran Islands |
€6,300 |
|
2012 |
Bonnar Keenlyside |
Review of Dublin Contemporary 2011 |
€10,959 |
|
2013 |
Dorgan Associates |
Cost Benefit Analysis of National Archives Development Plan |
€12,669 |
|
2013 |
Dorgan Associates |
Cost Benefit Analysis of National Gallery Redevelopment Project |
€12,731 |
|
2013 and 2014 |
Dorgan Associates |
Examination of capital incentives to promote investment in film studio infrastructure |
€6,765 |
|
2014 |
EY |
Review of PSO Air Service for the Aran Islands |
€41,795 |
|
2014 |
Fitzpatrick Associates |
Updated Business Case Restoring the Ulster Canal from Lough Erne to Clones |
€15,190.50 |
|
2014 |
The VAT Practice |
Advisory service on UK VAT |
€918.75 |
|
2015 |
Public Affairs Ireland (PAI) |
Review of Management Structure and Grading of Senior Management Posts within Údarás na Gaeltachta |
€9,717 |
935. Deputy Brian Walsh asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the reason a payment under the cessation of turf cutting compensation scheme has not yet been made in respect of a person (details supplied) in Galway city; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23715/15]
View answerAn application for compensation under the cessation of turf cutting compensation scheme has been received by my Department from the individual referred to in the Deputy's Question. I am advised that a payment of €1,500 in respect of year 1 of 15 (2011) and a payment of €1,500 in respect of year 2 of 15 (2012) have been made to this applicant.
The qualifying criteria for the cessation of turf cutting compensation scheme are that:
- The claimant must have a legal interest in one of the 53 raised bog special areas of conservation – ownership or turbary right;
- The claimant must have been the owner or entitled to exercise turbary rights on the land in question on 25 May 2010;
- The turbary on the site must not be exhausted;
- The claimant must have been cutting turf on the land in question during the relevant five year period; and
- No turf cutting or associated activity is ongoing on the property.
I am advised that there are a number of related applications for compensation for the bog plot on which the applicant claims to have been cutting turf. Therefore, further evidence of cutting on this plot has been requested from the applicants. Once this evidence is received, my Department will be in a position to process all of these applications.
