Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Next item, No. 741B, Nos. 1 to 5 dated 28 August is from the chief executive of the Courts Service, following the request from the committee on 13 July when it attended. This provides the information on District Court waiting times, the contract with Curran Communications and a breakdown of expenditure on training and incidental expenses. We note and publish that.

No. 743B, dated 30 August comes from the deputy commissioner of An Garda Síochána, enclosing information regarding the national anti-crime strategy, Operation Thor. We note and publish that.

No. 744B, dated 31 August from Niall Cody, chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, is regarding a request from the committee in relation to hiring private investigation teams on behalf of public bodies to deal with complaints of bullying and harassment in the work place. It seems to have a comprehensive policy of outsourcing dealing with allegations of bullying. We can note and publish that.

No. 748B, dated 31 August, is from the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality in response to a request from the committee for information regarding the number of bank accounts operated by An Garda Síochána and Mr. Waters. I want to read this letter out. We will need to follow up with this. "I refer to your letter of 9 June. I have now been informed by Garda management that An Garda Síochána currently operates some 130 public bank accounts and three charity accounts". Does the Garda need 130 separate bank accounts to operate, Mr. McCarthy?