Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I attended and found it interesting. All the questions were not answered but we got some helpful information. We will come back to that once the Government clears it.

No. 341C is dated 13 March and is from the Department of Health in relation to the North Meath Community Development Association. Members will recall we have had a number of items of correspondence on this matter. The Minister's office has reviewed the matter and liaised with the HSE which believes it is complying with its commercial obligations. From the committee's point of view, I believe we cannot take it further, as it is essentially a contractual dispute between the association and the HSE. I propose we write to the North Meath Community Development Association and advise it accordingly that the committee cannot take the matter any further at this stage. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 345C is dated 16 March 2017 and is from Mr. John McCarthy, Secretary General of the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government in relation to the Water Framework Directive. I propose we forward a copy to the correspondent who raised the matter, who happens to be the same individual who wrote to us in relation to the environmental issues discussed earlier. We are still waiting a detailed response from the Department following our recent meeting. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 348C (i) and (ii) is from Nursing Homes Ireland dated 16 March 2017 providing a submission to the committee on the HSE response to the committee in relation to residential care costs. I think members may want to consider this further. I propose that we have another engagement with the HSE sometime after Easter and that could be one of the issues we will discuss. Since the committee first met in the second half of 2016 we have had the HSE in to speak on several occasions, including on Console. Recently, the HSE was in to speak specifically on nursing homes and patients' private fund accounts. Today, Mr. O'Brien is in to deal with the record of the previous meeting, but the committee in the normal course of events would schedule a full meeting to discuss HSE matters. We will schedule a meeting and that issue can be included. We have not had the HSE in to discuss its accounts for the year. We will set a date for that and deal with the issue then. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 349C dated 21 March is correspondence from an individual raising matters in connection with Bord na gCon accounts. The individual suggests we get the figures for the first quarter of 2017 when we engage with Bord na gCon. The secretariat is working on a date for that engagement and we will ask for the latest figures to be available. If they have not been audited, we will ask for the best management account figures it has.