Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The next category of correspondence is C, correspondence from and related to private individuals and any other correspondence which is not for publication.

No. 2166 C is from an individual dated 13 May 2019 requesting the committee to undertake a detailed scrutiny of the proposed BusConnects project. Our position is this is a policy area and an ongoing project. No. 2171 C from an individual dated 15 May 2019 also requests the committee to undertake a detailed scrutiny of the proposed BusConnects project. I propose we forward these items to the Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport for whatever action it deems appropriate. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 2167 C from an individual dated 13 May 2019 relates to decisions related to a tourism project made by Cork County Council. The correspondence is addressed to Cork county councillors and while the individual seems to be requesting that the Committee of Public Accounts reviews an alleged loss of public money, the local authority matters raised are not with the remit of the committee. We will advise to the correspondent that the matter could be brought to the attention of the local authority audit service and note the item. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 2169 C is from the clerk to the Committee on Budgetary Oversight, dated 14 May 2019 advising the committee that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published the Public Service Performance Report 2018. We note this item. The report has already been published. We have seen copies of that report in recent weeks.

No. 2172 C from Professor Kerstin Mey, vice president, academic affairs and student engagement, University of Limerick, dated 30 April 2019 providing information requested by me as Chairman regarding grade recheck and grade appeal processes. It was a matter I raised on behalf of a constituent and which arose out of our meeting on the regrading in the University of Limerick. I propose we note the item and write to the correspondent that the information supplied by the university is all we have been able to extract. It goes back to 2011 and there is no mechanism to regrade those exam papers at this stage.

No. 2182 C is from an individual dated 17 May 2019 in relation to an alternative site for the national children’s hospital. We will take that correspondence on board when we do our periodic report on that matter and note the item.

No. 2184 C is from Deputy David Cullinane dated 20 May 2019 in relation to Commissioner Harris’s evidence to the committee regarding a particular case within an Garda Síochána. As mentioned earlier, the Commissioner has corrected the record and we note that. As we already have dealt with that particular issue, we will ask the secretariat to let the Deputy know we have dealt with it.

No 2177 C is from Mr. Allen Morgan, dated 16 May 2019 inquiring about his attendance at a private meeting of the committee in relation to the management of State-owned property by the Office of Public Works, OPW. We had previously advised that this item is on our work programme but due to other pressing business, we have not been in a position to schedule a meeting. He wrote following the committee's discussion of the Miesian Plaza on Baggot Street. We discussed that and other matters relating to the OPW in detail. We have written our periodic report and made our conclusions on the matter. Mr. Morgan has information on other projects, including Thornton Hall and the property in Fairgreen in Galway, Nos. 91 to 93 Merrion Square, a Mullingar site and Batty Langley Lodge, in relation to overspending. That goes back over a long period. He is asking if we will invite him into a meeting and to conclude one way or another as he has other things to move on to. We can thank him for his input. We have taken everything he said on board and have considered it as part of our periodic report. We will return to the OPW again in the autumn. The information he supplied will help us in our work when we return to the OPW on the next occasion. I do not think that there is time between now and the recess for a meeting on this issue. He has asked us to let him know if we are not proceeding and I think we should. That is my suggestion.