Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

-----in terms of public accounts by dealing with this matter publicly.

The next Department is the Department of Justice and Equality. We said: "The Committee recommends that the Chief State Solicitor's Office ensures its oversight mechanisms are sufficient to prevent reoccurrence of this unacceptable waste of taxpayers' money". That relates to where the Probation Service took over a building in Wolfe Tone Street in Dublin but the building was never occupied. We were told that advice from the Office of the Chief Solicitor was based on "legal professional privilege", and it is good. They accept this.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has replied in writing that, "The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will commence a process with relevant law officers to examine how legal professional privilege will be protected in future in a manner which is, so far as possible, consistent with the accountability role of the PAC." The Department has accepted that we have a valid point, that it will go as far as it can to meet that in future but there will always be the issue of legal privilege. However, the Department has accepted it needs to go the road with us, in terms of public accountability, which is good to see.

The next item is the Toland report on the Department of Justice and Equality and that Department accepted the view of the Committee of Public Accounts. We know there is an ongoing programme for change in the Department. We will continue to raise this matter when the Department comes before us again. The Committee of Public Accounts recommended a number of steps to monitor the follow-through in terms of this matter, and the Department is doing so. We can return to this matter, at any stage, when we deal with the Department again.

The next section deals with the strategic communications unit in the Department of the Taoiseach and that Department accepted our recommendation that "this process should proceed in the manner outlined by the Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach in his review of the operation of the Strategic Communications Unit." We accept the review conducted by the Secretary General. The Department of the Taoiseach made matters clear, in terms of implementing that review, and I will read a couple of the points it made. The Committee of Public Accounts recommended "that public bodies should always ensure that they retain the right to sign off" on documentation. The Department stated that the following guidelines concerning paid content are now in place:

(1) Any sponsored or paid-for feature articles should continue to be clearly identifiable ... and they should state clearly that the copy is 'advertorial', 'advertisement', 'sponsored' or a 'commercial feature'

(2) Where media partnerships or agencies (third parties) are used, final editorial control or 'sign-off' must be by the relevant Department

(3) Should anyone be interviewed for an advertorial or infomercial, they should be informed of the purpose and their permission sought.

That means people welcoming issues but not knowing that it is part of a paid advertisement. The final guideline is as follows:

(4) Politicians and public representatives should not feature in any paid-for content by Government other than relevant office-holders (Ministers).

That clarifies the entire issue.

The final matter is RTÉ and its licensing system. The minute states that a working group was established, that there were proposals before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment, that it has sent proposals to Government and on 28 July a working group was established, arising out of the pre-legislative scrutiny by that committee. The working group will report to the Joint Committee on Communications, Climate Action and Environment. The working group will also consider the possibility of the collection of the licence fee by the Revenue Commissioners or contracting externally for licence fee collection as provided for in the Broadcasting Amendment Bill. There is no commitment; it is just being examined.

Finally, RTÉ has accepted the final recommendation we made about the Eversheds report.