Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is appreciated and we have noted the letter and we have read it. I thank Deputy Cullinane.

Item No. 284C is a letter dated 1 February 2015, from a company called Flow East that was involved in a bid process run by NAMA for a property portfolio in the Czech Republic. The letter raises concerns about the process conducted in the disposal of the Savarin portfolio. The letter states that a full review into all NAMA projects should be conducted. While the correspondence refers to information already received from NAMA, we should look for a note from NAMA on this case for the information of the committee. We will seek a note from NAMA and then we can decide what to do next.

Item No. 285C is correspondence from an individual regarding the committee's role in the review of the wards of court fund. The individual in question has been in regular contact with the committee about this matter. We are still awaiting a departmental response. Once we receive it, we can decide what action, if any, we can take at that stage. We had a report, and we have recently asked the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to respond to the most recent comments. We are waiting for the Department to come back to us. It is an item that will not be dropped off our agenda. If we do not receive a reply within the next seven days, we will ask for a reminder to be sent to the Department.

Item No. 286C is a copy of correspondence dated 20 January 2017 from an individual to the Minister, Deputy Katherine Zappone, regarding the guardian ad litemservice. I suggest that we note this. Somebody wrote to the Minister on the topic as this is all being discussed here, and provided us with a copy of that. The original letter was for the Minister.

Item No. 287C, 1 to 3, is from an individual about the leasing of properties at Howth Harbour. The previous committee looked at this and published a report which had been circulated to members. As the correspondence required some clarification, the clerk contacted the individual in question. The person has raised issues about the lack of transparency about leasing in Howth Harbour, the points or weighted system used to allocate leases and the lack of full feedback to unsuccessful applicants. The person also raised concerns that there was not a suitable mix of building sizes being made available to cater for the different business needs. The relevant Department is before the committee today and I suggest that we ask the Secretary General for a comment on this. It comes under the domain of agriculture and fisheries because it is Howth Harbour, so it is within the remit of the Department here today. We will specifically raise that and, if needs be, we can follow it up. I understand that the previous committee went out and visited Howth Harbour, looked at the situation, did a report, and the gentleman said essentially that even though we did a report, nothing has changed. We can raise it with the Department again today.

Item No. 288C is correspondence from Deputy Mattie McGrath regarding the overrun of costs in the building of the national children's hospital. The national paediatric hospital development board is accountable to this committee, so I suggest that we schedule them as part of our work programme to get an update on the costs and construction. It could be a while before we get them in. We should specifically write to them to ask for an update about the cost.