Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will follow up the matter.

No. 1695C is correspondence, dated 25 October 2018, received from Deputy John Lahart requesting the committee to make inquiries about procurement by the HSE in the engagement of two companies to provide services. The Deputy has asked the committee to request the Comptroller and Auditor General to report on whether the HSE and the National Ambulance Service are operating within procurement guidelines in the case of these two companies and the committee to look at the procurement process. I propose, in the first instance, with his permission, that we forward the Deputy's correspondence to the HSE and seek a full response on the matters raised. When we receive it, we can decide on how to proceed. We will ask for a response and take it from there. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I will hold No. 1696C to be discussed in private session.

No. 1699C is correspondence received from Deputy Willie O'Dea. He has forwarded an item from an individual who made a protected disclosure in the University of Limerick and believes legislation on data protection and protected disclosures has been breached. I propose that we write to the individual to let him know that we will be returning to matters related to the University of Limerick and Sligo Institute of Technology on receipt of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. However, if data protection legislation has been breached, he should contact the Data Protection Commissioner and if protected disclosures legislation has been breached, the appropriate body to deal with the matter is the Workplace Relations Commission. Is that agreed? Agreed. We will tell the individual that we will deal with the matter when we receive the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General. Breaches of data protection legislation are matters for the Data Protection Commissioner, while breaches of protected disclosures legislation are matters for the Workplace Relations Commission, not the Committee of Public Accounts.

There is another item with which I want to deal. Some items of correspondence sent to the Committee of Public Accounts have not yet been circulated to members. The secretariat was concerned about circulating various items and I want to go through three or four of them. I will not identify them, but I will tell members the nature of what we have received and why they have been held. The secretariat has copies if any member wants to see them, but we think it is appropriate not to circulate them. I will give a summary.

No. 1532C is correspondence, dated 24 July 2018, received from the same individual who sent No. 1595C. It raises concerns about the procurement of training services at Our Lady's Hospice in Harold's Cross.

It has not been circulated as it makes defamatory allegations relating to specific individuals regarding HR training procurement. We have received some items of correspondence that we have noted and agreed to deal with but this letter is defamatory and we cannot give it parliamentary privilege so I am asking the committee to agree that we do not circulate it. If anyone wants to see the letter, he or she can contact the secretariat directly but I propose that we do not circulate it because it will only cause trouble for us if we do so.