John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will now deal with the housekeeping aspects of our business.

Are the minutes of the meeting of 4 October agreed? Agreed. We will deal with the minutes from 9 October at our next meeting. On matters arising from the minutes, I note the correspondence received.

Item 3A is correspondence from Accounting Officers. Correspondence dated 4 October 2012 is from Mr. Tom Boland, chief executive of the Higher Education Authority, in respect of the committee meeting of 27 September 2012, to be noted and published. Correspondence dated 21 June 2012 from Mr. Pat Geoghegan, secretary of the Irish Environmental Forum, alleging waste of public funds is to be noted. This matter was referred to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government for a note on the issues raised and also to the Comptroller and Auditor General for appropriate follow-up in the context of his audit of that body. I have checked with the clerk. The EPA comes under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General. In the context of that letter, there are a number of pieces of information that need to be clarified. I ask that they be clarified in order that if members want to raise it with the Accounting Officers when they come in, we can refer to the note from the Comptroller and Auditor General or the note from the Minister's Department.

Item 3B.2 is correspondence dated 2 October 2012 from Deputy Derek Nolan re HSE west property rental budget, to be noted and published. The matter was referred to the HSE for a note and to the Comptroller and Auditor General for the appropriate follow-up in the context of the annual audit.

Correspondence dated 1 October 2012 is from an anonymous source re the prison officers social club Castlerea and is to be noted. This may not come within the remit of the committee as it relates to a social club funds. However, as it alleges inappropriate use of moneys, we will refer it to the Garda Commissioner for appropriate follow-up and comment.

On the issue of individual correspondence and complaints, the first two matter, 3.1 and 3C were deferred from previous meeting because they relate to issues raised by Deputy Mary Lou McDonald. I discussed this with the Deputy and she asked that if she was not here today, because of the structure of the meeting, that they would be deferred again. With the permission of the meeting, that can be done.

Item 3C.3 is correspondence dated 27 July 2012 from Ms Julie O'Shea in respect of the second home charge and fine. This has been noted. The collection of the household charge is a matter for each local authority and is outside the remit of the committee. However, we will ask the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government to examine this complaint to ensure the local authority levys the appropriate change on this individual. The Department will be asked to deal with this matter directly. Presumably when that has been dealt with, we will get a copy of the correspondence. With all of these new charges, it is important the issues that come out of them are followed up in order that we can improve the process of collection and so on.

Item 3C.4 is correspondence dated 18 September 2012 from Mr. Martin Moore and Company, Main Street, Blennerville, Tralee, County Kerry. This is a matter for the Revenue Commissioners. This is to be noted. We have dealt with his issue.

Item 3C.5 is correspondence dated 23 September 2012 from Mr. C. Callan in County Clare re the budget. Again, this is a policy issue and is not for the committee. We can refer it to the Department of Finance for comment.

Item 3C.6 is correspondence dated 26 September 2012 from Mr. Michael Brosnan, North Circular Road, Dublin 7, re Mr. Charles Farrell. This is to be noted. We have dealt with this matter arising from previous correspondence

Item 3D relates to documents before this committee - opening statements - and we will publish them.

Item 4 is reports and statements and accounts received since our meeting of 4 October 2012. They are listed from 4.1.to 4.6, all to be noted.

The work programme on the screen takes account of meetings on the payment of public sector pay allowances in 2011. It has been suggested that we hold a private meeting on this next Tuesday. Since our meeting, the Minister for Public Expenditure has made statements on this and has attended a meeting here. The question for the committee is whether we wish to continue to examine the allowances. If so, will we hold a meeting on 16 October and discuss it again? The meeting on 16 October at 2 p.m. was to distribute to members the initial review of the business cases and discuss them. Will we add this as an item on the agenda for the meeting with the Department of Defence on 18 October and allow members to discuss it then instead? It is up to the members. This proposal is made in light of the new developments.