Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are joined by Mr. Seamus McCarthy, permanent witness to the committee, who is joined by Ms Patricia Devlin and Ms Olivia Somers, senior auditors in the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Apologies have been received from Deputy Mary Lou McDonald.

The minutes of the meeting of 25 January 2018 have been circulated. Are they agreed? Agreed. Any matters arising from the minutes will be dealt with shortly.

The next item is correspondence received since the committee's last meeting. In category A correspondence are Nos. 1049 and 1050, which are the briefing document and opening statement receivedfrom Ms Hilary Murphy-Fagan, chief executive of the National Shared Services Office, for today's meeting. This has been published.

In category B correspondence, from Accounting Officers and Ministers and follow up to PAC meetings, we have received correspondence from John O'Sullivan, commissioner of valuation, dated 26 January 2018, which provides a briefing note on the dates of Laois valuations.

One request for follow-up information was made at the meeting last week and the secretariat has followed up on a number of other matters which we should receive in the next two weeks. We will note and publish that.

Category C relates to correspondence from private individuals and any other correspondence. Item Nos. 1038(i) to (ii)was receivedfrom an individual dated 23 January 2018 in relation to alleged Tusla misuse of public moneys. A copy of a letter from Tusla to the individual in relation to a report mentioned is attached to it. I propose in the first instance that we write to Tusla for a response to the key items raised in the correspondence. Tusla seems to have written directly to the person on 12 January and the individual who wrote to us has reverted to the committee with further queries. We will ask Tusla for a response in so far as it can give it, as it relates in part to individual staff members.

The next item is No. 1042 receivedfrom Deputy Catherine Murphy in relation to the funding model for local authorities and population changes. Does the Deputy wish to speak to the item?