Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is a fair point.

No. 2022C, dated 19 February, is from an individual who has queried the employment of staff from outside the country by the Housing Agency.

It is difficult to understand the point being made but we will note that.

No. 2026C, dated 1 March, is correspondence from Ms Orla McBreen, director of the civil society and development education unit at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, in which she provides information on the election observation roster that was also sent to the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence. We will note and publish this. I propose that we forward it to the individual who raised related matters with the committee. However, we agreed previously that the matter was closed and are forwarding the item for information purposes only. Is that Agreed? Agreed.

No. 2029C is correspondence fromMr. David O’Flynn, registrar at the Dental Council, in which he provides information requested by the committee on the new public service single pension scheme. We will note and publish this. We sought this information in the context of our periodic report. There was not clarity with regard to this organisation last week but we have that clarity now. A sentence on it will go into our periodic report, which we will deal with shortly in private session.

No. 2039 is dated 6 March but has just been received. It is an update requested by the committee on Miesian Plaza and the basis for measurements to determine the rent. Mr. John McCarthy states that, at the time of the finalisation of the report, the OPW stated that it had engaged with the landlord with a view to rectifying the matter. The response is up on the screen now. As members can see, it says that the matter is still under consideration by the OPW and discussions with the landlord have not yet concluded. That response is from Mr. Maurice Buckley, chairperson of the OPW. We will note and publish that and incorporate it, as necessary, into our periodic report.

In terms of statements and accounts received since the previous meeting, we have received two, both of which received clear audit opinions. One is from the Qualifications and Quality Assurance Authority for 2017 and the other is from the Private Security Authority, PSA. We will note both of those.

The last item on the agenda is our work programme. It is possibly a surprise to some but the Dáil is not sitting next Thursday so we will not be meeting on that day. Obviously, the Dáil will not be sitting at all the following week. We will be back on 28 March and will deal with the broadband issue on that date. We also will deal with the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment in respect of its appropriation accounts. We will deal with the Department of Justice and Equality the following week. There is quite a bit to be covered in that meeting. Representatives from the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board will be in the week after that. We have also received confirmation of attendance by An Garda Síochána. We will return to our work programme at our next meeting and finalise it. I am just referring now to the next few meetings that have already been arranged.

We have now concluded the public part of today's business. Our next public meeting will be on 28 March, when we will meet officials from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and resume our consideration of that Department's 2017 appropriation accounts. The Department will also provide an update on the national broadband plan. We will now go into private session.