Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There may be other invoices, as the Comptroller and Auditor General has said but the total is €551,000 for the invoices that have been processed to date. We will write back and ask for an update on the final figures when all invoices have been processed. I thank the Comptroller and Auditor General for teasing out that issue.

The next item is No. 1357B (i) to (iv) from the office of the chief administrative officer of An Garda Síochána dated 30 May providing information on the legal advice to the former Garda Commissioner, a note on the Garda training college risk register and an update on the implementation of the recommendations in the internal audit report on the training college. We will note and publish all of that.

The next item is No. 1358B from Ms Dee Forbes, director general of RTÉ, dated 30 May providing a lot of follow-up information requested by this committee, including details on the relationship between the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and RTÉ in the context of oversight; an analysis of the 81 contractors paid as limited companies; a note on costs associated with legal contracts; and responses to the other specific questions we put. We will note and publish these documents which provide all of the answers required in a clear manner.

The next item is No. 1364B from Mr. Robert Watt, Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, dated 1 June 2018, providing information regarding guidelines on expenditure on hospitality by public bodies. That arose from our discussion on third level institutions in Cork. We will note and publish that correspondence. The next item, No. 1365B is also from Mr. Robert Watt, dated 1 June 2018, providing follow-up information requested by the committee on the European structural reform support programme, including information on the scope and expected outcomes of the project. The correspondence also includes notes on the sequencing of moving public service bodies to the finance shared service and on the financial reporting standards of public bodies. We will note and publish all of that.

The next item is No. 1366B from Mr. Barry O'Connor, president of Cork Institute of Technology, dated 7 June 2018 providing follow-up information requested by the committee including a letter issued from the institute to the Higher Education Authority dated 22 May 2018 and a note on the pension paid by the student services company, which includes details of those eligible to benefit from the pension scheme and whether anyone in the institute or on the board is involved in the company. We will note and publish that correspondence.

The next item is No. 1367B from Professor Patrick O'Shea, president of University College Cork, dated 8 June 2018 providing follow-up information requested by the committee on Cork University Foundation, Athena Swan, Infini-LED, IMI pay scales, the IMI aspiring leaders programme and a note on key management personnel. We will note and publish that information and members are free to use it as they see fit.

The next item is No. 1376B from Mr. Ciarán Breen, director of the State Claims Agency dated 12 June, relating to his attendance at today's meeting. We dealt with this earlier, so will note and publish it now. It is only a formality.

The next items of correspondence are from or related to private individuals. Item No. 1312C is from Deputy Catherine Murphy dated 18 May 2018 regarding the Road Safety Authority, RSA ,which was held over. We will hold that over again for now. Item No. 1347C is from Mr. Seán O'Reardon at the office of the Garda Commissioner, dated 28 May 2018, providing a response to the committee regarding a report on the operation of GoSafe cameras. It also relates to the issue of road safety issue and we will hold it over again for now.

No. 1351C is correspondence from an individual dated 29 May 2018 regarding the provision of training related to bereavement in the HSE. The allocation of training resources is a matter for each public body. I do not think that this committee can provide advice on how to access funding for the training required other than to contact the training unit in the HSE and I propose that we write to the individual accordingly. Is that agreed? Agreed.

The next item is No. 1352C (i) to (iii) from Mr. Niall Cody, Chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, dated 29 May 2018, provides information requested by the committee on alleged PRSI misclassification of employees. The correspondence deals with employed versus self-employed status, the PRSI and taxation systems and the appeals structure. We discussed this previously. We have also received a reply on this matter from the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection. I propose that we send a copy of both items to the individual concerned. We will keep this issue before us. The information provided here is useful to members. We will publish it on our website for the benefit of the public who may have an interest in that topic.

No. 1354C is correspondence received from Mr. Tadhg Daly, CEO of Nursing Homes Ireland, dated 30 May 2018, confirming his attendance at today’s meeting, which we will note an publish. Nos. 1342C, 1355C (i) to (vi) and 1362C dated 24 May, 30 May 2018 and 2 June 2018, respectively, were received from an individual on the issue of wards of court. We will hold that over. The correspondent has been in touch with me and a number of other committee members. We will meet one or two of the people who have asked for a meeting and return to the issue later. We will not deal with this matter today.

No. 1356C (i) to (iii) is from an individual, dated 30 May 2018, enclosing copies of letters regarding the Irish Horse Welfare Trust in Wicklow sent to Deputy Andrew Doyle and the animal health and welfare division of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I propose we note the correspondence. No. 1359C (i) to (iii) is correspondence from an individual, dated 31 May 2018, relating to an FOI request to the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. The committee is being copied on the correspondence which relates to road contracts and the disposal of waste. We will note that. We are not being asked to deal with anything as such but are being copied in on correspondence.

No. 1361C (i) to (ii) is correspondence from an individual, dated 4 June 2018, regarding evidence provided by officials of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment related to RTÉ at the meeting of this committee on 3 May 2018. The individual states that information given to the committee regarding a request by RTÉ to the Broadcasting Authority for RTÉ 2+1 to be included on the Sky platform was not correct. The individual also sent a copy of this correspondence to Ms Cronin of the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. Ms Cronin has written directly to the committee, as per item No. 1374C, dated 11 June, on the matter. Ms Cronin explains the process followed and apologises for the lack of clarity which may have risen. I am not satisfied with that correspondence and have a proposal to make in that regard. I raised an issue at the meeting in question. RTÉ representatives were talking about the commercial situation and I asked why RTÉ 2+1 was not on the Sky platform. The witness from the Department gave the impression that a request had been received but would have to go to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, BAI, first. I asked what stage the application was at and was told that it was with the BAI. An individual who was watching proceedings carefully felt that what was said was not true and submitted an FOI request to the BAI which confirmed that it had received no such application. The letter from the Department does not correct the record. Evidence was given in public by a very senior assistant secretary of a Department that was not accurate. We had a similar issue this morning and brought the people involved before us. While I do not propose that we go to that stage on this issue, we would not have known about it were it not for a vigilant member of the public contacting us to tell us what was said was incorrect. That has been proven to be the case. In the meantime, the assistant secretary has written to the committee to explain the background and context but has not corrected the record.