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

We can bring forward a draft report that we will present to the Minister in a short format. We can then discuss it and members can decide on recommendations, such as the one Deputy Deasy is putting forward. It is clear, in the context of all these reports, that there is a crisis in the management of the HSE. No political system or Minister could manage the HSE the way it is. It will appear before the Joint Committee on Health and Children this morning. The stonewalling that goes on when one is trying to sort out a problem is just incredible. It is unacceptable and somebody will have to do something about it. My concern is that while we are discussing this and while we had our meeting with the HSE and are now going to bring forward this short report with recommendations, there are individuals out there who are suffering because of it and nobody seems to mind. The system seems to be conditioned to a high level of acceptance of this stuff going on. It is not acceptable. That is what members are saying in the context of trying to achieve balance and a change. Somebody has to change the system in the interest of justice and fair play. It is all one side at the moment and no one seems to be paying a bit of notice to any of the public hearings that are going on. That is not acceptable. We will have this short report as soon as possible. We will put it before the members and then we can decide what is necessary.

All the correspondence that has been mentioned is to be noted and published.

No. 3B.1 is correspondence from individuals. We dealt with correspondence previously from Mr. Philip Cantwell regarding illegal dumping of waste. The correspondence is to be noted and published and the Department is to be requested to give a full up-to-date account of its investigations into this matter because it was raised directly with the Secretary General at the Committee of Public Accounts. We will ask for that in a timely fashion, so that we can respond to Mr. Cantwell.

Correspondence from Mr. Paul O'Toole, CEO of SOLAS, regarding spousal travel in FÁS 2002-2008 is to be noted and published.

Nos. 3C.1 and 3C.2 are documents relating to today's meeting, namely, the opening statements and briefing documents. The correspondence is to be noted and published.

Nos. 4.1 and 4.2 are reports, statements and accounts received since our meeting on 7 May from Trinity College, Dublin. Regarding 4.1, the committee's attention is drawn to the recognition of a deferred pension funding asset, which is standard for universities.