Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We probably will not be able to do a report on leasing versus ownership because that is a long-term thing and we have not done enough. However, there are lots of things such as the HAP and various other matters that we have covered in our three meetings. When we get these clarifications, we will be able to do a report on the areas we have covered, exactly as the Deputy has said. There are other issues in housing for other people to address. In respect of what we have done, we have enough information gathered or in the process of being assembled for us to do a project ourselves directly in the very near future. I said to the secretariat before the meeting started that there are two issues.

I am just throwing that out; I am not asking for members' views. There are two issues which are more time sensitive rather than waiting for a periodic report. The first one is the broadband issue. There is no point in the matter being concluded and this committee issuing a report two months later. The second is housing on which I believe we have most of our work assembled as far as we are going with that. The Comptroller and Auditor General's audit this year might throw up something else which we will come back to on another day but we might bring those two issues together. I am just asking members to think about it and we will decide on it the next day. I believe there are two issues. We have had three or four meetings on housing and at least three meetings on broadband. They are the two bigger projects that we have and I believe we should work on producing a report just covering those two items as soon as possible. It is advance work. It will not be in our next periodic report. There seems to be a general logic in that approach so we will follow up on this one and come back to that. I thank the members. We understand what is required. The Department has to come in on all of this as well because we will be issuing a report as soon as we get all our information back.

The next item is No. 2053B from Mr. Paul Quinn, Chief Procurement Officer, Office of Government Procurement, dated 12 March 2019, providing information requested by the committee as follows: a copy of the capital works management framework; a note on the required delivery timeline for the national paediatric hospital; and a copy of the minutes and attendance list for the meeting of the Government Contracts Committee for Construction when the request for a derogation by the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board from the standard forms of contracts was considered and agreed. We will note and publish that.

There is a second item of correspondence relative to that on the list which I will skip down to. It is No. 2075B, which we will put on the screen, from the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board, specifically on the children's hospital. It is dated 25 March 2019 regarding our invitation for a second meeting. It states that given that the PricewaterhouseCoopers, PwC, report will not be discussed by the board until 1 May, it has asked that the meeting be scheduled after that. I want to look at the correspondence. There is quite a time gap in respect of No. 2075B. The National Paediatric Hospital Development Board states that PwC is currently targeting to complete its review on 5 April and the report will then be issued to the HSE, which commissioned the report, and not to the hospital board, and other relevant stakeholders for consideration. The board will not have its subsequent board meeting until 1 May so it is suggesting that it would be premature to come in on 18 April, which we accept. We will not have had an opportunity to discuss it. I will call Deputy Cullinane on that shortly. It is asking us to agree an alternative date after it has had an opportunity to consider the report. No. 2075B states that the board would like to invite members of the committee to visit the construction site of the new children's hospital to hear more about the project and view the work to date. They kindly ask that we would progress this invite with the members, and it suggests some date, one of which is this week. I will ask members for their views on that. Deputy Cullinane has commented on that.