Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, there is. That is the sad part. We will definitely come back to the matter which we will be highlighting in a future periodic report. The correspondence received from Mr. Costello will help us in coming to conclusions.

The next item held over was No. 1510B, correspondence receivedfrom Mr. Robert Watt, Secretary General, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, enclosing a minute from the Minister for Finance in response to our second periodic report. We will hold it over again.

The next item held over was No.1513B, correspondence receivedfrom Mr. Ciarán Breen, director of the State Claims Agency, providing further details as requested by the committee of the status of non-screening cervical cancer misdiagnosis claims. We agreed to note and publish the correspondence and hold it over for further discussion at a later meeting. We will discuss the State Claims Agency and CervicalCheck in the context of our work programme in a few minutes.

Also held over were Nos. 1526B, 1528B and 1530B, correspondence received from Mr. Ray Mitchell, assistant national director of the HSE, providing follow-up information as requested at our meeting on 5 July. A considerable amount of information was enclosed. We noted and published the correspondence last week and will come back to the matter as part of our work programme. Mr. Mitchell has provided very extensive and comprehensive information which will take some time to go through. When we come back to the issues, the correspondence will form part of our work programme. We also held over No. 1538B, correspondence received from Mr. Mitchell, providing follow-up information as requested at our meeting on 14 June. Again, very extensive documentation has been submitted. The correspondence has been noted and published and will be held on file as part of our work programme.

The next item held over was No. 1560B, correspondence received from Dr. Barry O' Connor, president of Cork Institute of Technology, providing a detailed note as requested by the committee on the preparation of terms of reference for the KPMG review of anonymous allegations against Cork Institute of Technology in 2014. We agreed to note and publish the correspondence which we will hold over for now.

Also held over wasNo. 1561B, correspondence received from Ms Anne Hession of the Higher Education Authority on the HEA's examination of expenditure associated with retirement events for the former president of Cork Institute of Technology, enclosing a note on the ability of technological universities to borrow. At our meeting last week we noted and discussed this correspondence which was read into the record. It will form part of our ongoing work. The memo is the only piece of positive information on the topic I have seen to date.

No. 1599B is correspondence, dated 27 September 2018, received from Ms Michelle Lowe, corporate communications manager, NTMA, providing information as requested by the committee for the preparation of our next periodic report. We will note and publish the correspondence. We are continuing work on our periodic reports. The secretariat has been going through the transcripts and is following up on questions that have not been answered fully by various bodies.

That is part of that process. We will note and publish that in the meantime, but it will come back to us when we are finalising our periodic report.

The next item is No. 1600 Bfrom Ms Margaret Fitzgerald, private secretary to the Secretary General, Department of Finance. The secretariat requested an update relating to the review of staffing, governance and operations in the Tax Appeals Commission, and the Department advise a copy of the review is expected to be issued to the Committee of Public Accounts in the next week or so. It has been completed. It is on the Minister's desk, and we are told we will have it in a week or so. We look forward to receiving that, hopefully very shortly. We will note and publish that.

The next item is C, correspondence from private individuals and any other correspondence. The first one is No. 1491 Cfrom Mr. Mark Griffin, Secretary General, Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment, dated 19 July 2018, enclosing an information note as requested regarding what appears to be a far from complete remediation of a landfill site in County Wicklow. At our meeting last week, we agreed to note and publish this correspondence and hold it over for further discussion. In the meantime, we have received further correspondence from the original correspondent, and we will return to it as part of our work programme.

Held over from the last meeting also was No. 1572 Cdated 15 September 2018 related to the previous item to which I have just referred. At our last meeting, we agreed to send the response from the Department to the correspondent. We have received further correspondence from him and we may return to that as part of our future work programme.

Held over from the last meeting is No. 1578 Cfrom an individual dated 14 September 2018 requesting the committee to make recommendations to the Government regarding accountability for the management of the State's property assets. This matter is related to a forthcoming Comptroller and Auditor General report and refers to an issue raised with the previous committee. We agreed to note and publish that and hold it over for further discussion. Is that the item we discussed in private session?