Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for the delay in starting. Before we begin, I remind all members to turn off their mobile phones completely, please, as they may interfere with the recording equipment. The minutes of the meeting of 27 February 2019 have been circulated. Are the minutes agreed? Agreed.

I now turn to correspondence. The first item of correspondence is a letter which we issued as a committee through our clerk to Rea Walsh, corporate affairs and licensing director of the Football Association of Ireland, FAI, concerning the scheduled meeting with the joint committee on Wednesday, 10 April 2019. We were seeking clarification on certain matters and further information on other matters. The response which we got back was to have the meeting brought forward to 3 April. The committee has agreed to schedule a meeting on that date with Sport Ireland because Sport Ireland is the body responsible for governance, oversight and scrutiny of sporting bodies. The committee has agreed that our scheduled meeting with the FAI will proceed on 10 April, as planned. The committee, through our clerk, on 22 March requested three issues from the FAI. We sought confirmation as a matter of urgency on the date in early April when they FAI governance review would be completed and confirmation that the outcomes of that review would be brought to the attention of this joint committee well in advance of our meeting scheduled for 10 April.

It was also noted from public statements that the FAI is willing to meet the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Ross, and Sport Ireland to give more detail on a bridging loan from the chief executive to the association in 2017. We requested that full and comprehensive detail of this matter would be forwarded to the joint committee well in advance of the meeting which is scheduled for 10 April. We have not received any reply to that correspondence. We will now ask that the FAI would supply the information urgently and at the earliest possible opportunity to the committee, and well in advance of our proposed meeting on 10 April. That is the decision of the committee.

I will now turn to other correspondence. The next is No. 2019/419. It is noted in this correspondence that Mr. Ford said CIÉ is not covered by freedom of information, FOI. This is a letter from a member of the public. It is proposed that he would contact the Information Commissioner as regards the body in question. Is that agreed? Agreed.