Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----while we have the evidence we heard on two occasions.

The correspondence, dated 2 June 2017, from Mr. Ken Ruane, head of legal affairs in An Garda Síochána, includes five emails sent to the chief administration officer in 2015. This information was requested by the committee on 31 May. Is this correspondence noted? I think we dealt with the matter yesterday and will deal with it again next Tuesday.

No. 565B is correspondence, dated 7 June 2017, from Mr. Ed Sibley, director of credit institution supervision in the Central Bank, in response to the committee's request for further information on the bank's review of certain allegations about an Irish credit institution that was referred to in email correspondence on 27 September 2016 and to queries regarding Bank of Ireland collateral arrangements. The correspondence will be noted and published.

No. 568B, is correspondence, dated 2 June 2017, from Professor Patrick O'Shea, President of University College Cork, UCC, enclosing trust fund financial statements for 2014 and 2015. This information about the non-consolidation of trust fund accounts was requested by the committee. It is noted.

No. 574B, is correspondence, dated 8 June 2017, from the same Patrick O'Shea, President of UCC, and Catherine Day, chairperson of the UCC governing body, in relation to UCC's acquisition of the Irish Management Institute and the "Morning Ireland" programme on 26 May 2017. This is noted. The president will be before the committee on 22 June.

No. 575B, is correspondence, dated 9 June 2017, from An Garda Síochána about the information requested from the committee at the meeting of 31 May 2017 regarding the interim audit of financial controls at the Garda College, Templemore. This is noted.

No. 578B, is correspondence, dated 9 June 2017, from Graham Love, chief executive, Higher Education Authority, HEA, regarding the HEA review of the spin out and sale of FeedHenry and other spin-out companies from the Telecommunications Software and Systems Group. The terms of reference for the proposed external review are enclosed. This is noted.

No. 585B, is correspondence, dated 13 June 2017, from Noel Waters, Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, with follow-ups from the meeting of 31 May 2017 with members of management at An Garda Síochána. This is noted.

No. 588B, is correspondence, dated 14 June 2017, from the Health Service Executive, HSE, with clarification points on the Grace case. This will be covered in the first part of our meeting today.

Category C is correspondence from or relating to private individuals and any other correspondence. No. 529C is carried over from the meeting on 1 June 2017, also Nos. 556C, dated 31 May 2017, from Deputy Catherine Murphy and 572C, dated 25 May 2017.

There is correspondence, dated 11 May 2017, from an individual regarding matters relating to a protected disclosure to the Irish Prison Service. The individual has indicated he has received an apology from the director general of the Irish Prison Service. He made a recommendation to the Irish Prison Service to appoint a protected disclosures manager and has asked the committee to support his recommendation, to support persons making protected disclosures, and to summon the director general of the Irish Prison Service to explain why it would appoint a judge to conduct a review and then ignore the judge’s findings. We will probably have to consider this again, but for the time being I propose we request a response from the Irish Prison Service regarding the recommendation to appoint a protected disclosures manager. I request an update from the Irish Prison Service regarding the implementation of the review mentioned, and we might return to this. I presume many members of the committee are receiving correspondence from this individual. I certainly have. Some of the allegations are very serious. We will ask for an update on these two matters and will follow up on them later. It is worthy of our attention.

No. 549C is correspondence, dated 29 May 2017, from an individual writing on behalf of a children and youth action based group in Dublin’s north inner city regarding the use of public funds for youth services in the area. The group wrote to Deputy McDonald in 2015. This is a policy matter not within the remit of the committee and I propose the correspondence be referred to the relevant sectoral committee, the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 550C is correspondence, dated 28 May 2017, addressed to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and copied to the committee concerning a letter sent to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, responsible for the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, regarding an audit of the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, ISME, in 2016. We will note that.

No. 551C is correspondence, dated 26 May 2017, from an individual making comments relating to greed and a lack of accountability in the public sector. That is noted.

No. 552C is correspondence, dated 30 May 2017, from an individual relating to procurement processes in respect of the Eircode system. The letter alleges the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and the Environment was misled by An Post. An Post is not within the remit of this committee so I propose we refer this correspondence to the communications committee which may wish to proceed and consider the matter further. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 557C is correspondence, dated 31 May 2017, from Deputy Catherine Murphy enclosing an email from an individual regarding the appointment process for a coroner in south and east Kerry. The appointment of coroners is the responsibility of local authorities, but I propose to refer the matter to the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government for a response. Is that agreed? Agreed. The individual obviously had a grievance about the process.

No. 559C is correspondence, dated 29 May 2017, from the Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform providing an update about a minute of the Minister following publication of a review of the Courts Service Spectrum growth fund. The matter is more relevant to the Courts Service which will be before the committee on 13 July. I suggest we make the Courts Service aware that this matter will be discussed on the day. We will also send a copy to the individual who raised the matter. This is noted.

No. 564C is correspondence, dated 6 June 2017, from the whistleblower in the Grace case who met the committee on 25 May 2017, enclosing a note about the matters discussed at that meeting. This is noted. A further note was received very late last night. Members will need time to consider the latest item, and if there are matters arising that we need to put to the HSE, we will put them in writing based on the letter we received. It is a fairly detailed letter and we certainly need time to consider it. I presume people will raise elements of it here today.