Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

This private individual has requested to appear in public in order that he will be satisfied that his issue will be dealt with in public. We will have to make quick contact with him because of the GDPR, but I propose that we publish the correspondence. Normally, we do not publish letters from an individual, but this is different because he wants to appear in public. If we have to seek formal agreement to allow publication of the letter, so be it. If it is granted, we should publish it.

The next item of correspondence is from Deputy Jonathan O'Brien, requesting that we follow up on an item with Mr. John Pollock about various meetings and the minutes of the meetings of the finance sub-committee of the paediatric hospital board. We have asked for copies of the minutes as a result of last week's meeting and various other minutes of meetings of different groups. That matter has been dealt with.

The next item on the agenda is statements of accounts received since the last meeting. There is a large list which I will move down through quickly. The first is for the Criminal Assets Bureau which received a clear audit opinion.

The special account established under section 4 of the Hepatitis C Compensation Tribunal (Amendment) Act 2006, an insurance scheme, received a clear audit opinion, as did Pobal.

The Limerick Institute of Technology received a clear audit opinion, but non-compliant procurement to a figure of €663,000 is noted. Without going into the detail every time it arises today, the liaison officer produced for the committee a comprehensive report last autumn on the items highlighted as non-compliant in all of the accounts. I will ask for it to be brought up to date in the accounts received to the end of December. We will include a summary in our next periodic report in the section dealing with the issue of non-compliance. Much work has been done behind the scenes. When the document is updated, we will circulate and summarise it for inclusion in our next periodic report. We need to cover this issue but without delving into every specific detail as we move along. The matter is noted.

Beaumont Hospital board received a clear audit opinion. Again, the figure for non-compliant procurement is estimated at €24 million.

The Health and Social Care Professionals Council to promote standards of professional education, training and competence for health and social care professionals received a qualified audit opinion. The council accounts for the cost of retirement benefit only when it becomes available and is not in compliance with FRS 102, international standards, but it is complying with the direction of the Minister.