Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We had a brief discussion in private session which was substantially connected with our work programme.

The next item on the agenda is the minutes of the meeting of 25 September. Are they agreed to? Agreed.

The next item is correspondence. No. 1610B is correspondence received from the Department of Health on the implementation of the Scally report and was circulated to members yesterday. We will discuss the timing of the issue in the context of our work programme, but for now we can note and publish the correspondence.

Category A comprises briefing documents and opening statements received by the committee. Nos. 1598A and 1608A are correspondence received from Teagasc, including briefing documents and the opening statement for today's meeting. We will note and publish the correspondence.

Category B comprises correspondence received from Accounting Officers and/or Ministers, as well as follow-up material requested at previous meetings. We held over a number of items from last week's meeting and are awaiting further information on some of them. We will continue to hold them over until we receive the information.

The first item held over was No. 1482B, correspondence from Mr. Robert Watt, Secretary General, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, on the Dublin Institute of Technology. At our meeting last week we agreed to note and publish the correspondence and request the Secretary General’s views on the relevant legislation. That letter has been sent and the correspondence published.

Nos. 1486B and 1566B, dated 12 September 2018, are correspondence received from Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú, providing a copy of the review and report on Kildare-Wicklow ETB. We agreed to note and publish this correspondence. The secretariat is working on isolating matters mentioned in the report that are not subject to investigation by An Garda Síochána.

The next item held over was No. 1490B, correspondence received from Mr. Stephen Blake in the Government accounting unit in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, enclosing a minute from the Minister for Finance in response to our periodic report which was published last January. I am proposing that we hold the item over again. At this stage there are two or three reports, each of which merits further discussion. I have had a look at the correspondence and have mixed views on the quality of the response received. We will come back to the matter in public session at a later date.

The next item held over was No. 1502B, correspondence, dated 31 July 2018, received from Mr. Fergal Costello in the Department of Rural and Community Development, providing a copy of the statutory review of the Dormant Accounts Fund. We agreed to note and publish the correspondence, as well as a number of other items related to our periodic reports. The Dormant Accounts Fund will be included as an item in a future work programme. We will come back to this item.