Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes. We will pass on that observation directly to Mr. Downes or whoever. No, it is not for the committee as they are only members. We will pass our observation on to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Donohoe, as he is the man in charge. I thank the Deputies for the observation.

The next item of correspondence is No. 2294B from the Department of Justice and Equality, dated 2 July, providing a notice on the sentence calculation review carried out on behalf of the Irish Prison Service. We will note and publish this item. It will be included in our periodic report that we will publish next week.

A detailed review of that particular issue has been conducted, and we were satisfied to receive that.

No. 2295B is from William Beausang, Department of Education and Skills. He has provided an update on responses received by the Department from Waterford IT arising from matters related to the spin-out company FeedHenry. We will note and publish this item and it will feed into our periodic report. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Category C relates to private individuals and other correspondence. One item has been held over from previous meetings and I want to do a detailed note on that because we have a number of letters on this issue from this particular correspondent. It is their right to correspond with this committee. No. 2260C, dated 18 June, is further correspondence from an individual about the Social Welfare Appeals Office. We considered correspondence from this individual at our meeting on 13 June 2019. The matters raised appeared to involve a breach of legislation and it was agreed to advise the individual that the matters raised were not within the remit of the committee, but were a policy or legislation issue. In this item, the correspondent states that he intends to make a further submission to the committee. We have previously written to both the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners on matters raised by the correspondent regarding bogus self-employment. We sent responses to the correspondent, which were received, in June 2018. The Department advised in 2018 that it had published a review of trends in, and issues arising from, the use of intermediary structures and self-employment arrangements, together with the Department of Finance and the Revenue Commissioners. The report considered the available data on employment trends, including data used in the correspondent's submission, and concluded that there was little, if any, evidence that there has been an increase in the level of what is termed "disguised or false self-employment". The report made a number of recommendations. One recommendation was to increase public awareness of the services provided by the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection's scope section, and a public awareness campaign about false self-employment was launched in May of last year.

I propose we inform the correspondent that our consideration of the matter is closed, in light of the fact that various State organisations have dealt with the information. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 2279C is from Mr. John Conway, assistant secretary of Louth Environmental Group. It is dated 27 June 2019, and is a response to correspondence we sent to the group which was received from the Office of Public Works, OPW, following inquiries made by the committee regarding a flood risk project at Bellurgan, Dundalk, County Louth. I propose to advise the group to make contact with the Local Government Audit Service as the work was carried by Louth County Council, but members may also wish to take this matter up with the OPW when it is next before the committee giving its financial statements.We will note this item. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 2280C is a response from an individual to our recent correspondence to him regarding salaries and allowances for Oireachtas Members. We will note this correspondence. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 2281C, dated 24 June 2019, is from an individual responding to our recent correspondence to him and to our discussion of his correspondence in respect of Kerry County Council. The correspondent says we misunderstood the point he was making, which was about the value for money of discretionary funds that are made available to councillors. Nonetheless, our position remains that the matters raised are not within the remit of the committee and I propose to reiterate that he should make his inquiry to the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 2283C, dated 27 June 2019, is from Mr. Allen Morgan, enclosing further correspondence following our private meeting on 20 June 2019. Mr. Morgan is a retired senior official from the OPW with extensive experience, having worked in the organisation for years. We met him in private session to discuss a number of projects he wanted to highlight. In response to queries from members, Mr. Morgan has provided further documentation and, in summary, he recommends that the lessons learned from the Miesian Plaza case should be embedded in all OPW projects. On the transfer of the property remit from the OPW to a dedicated agency-type organisation, he cites the example of Coillte and other European comparator countries where there is a more commercially focused agency approach. He also recommends greater and more clearly independent oversight or scrutiny of property cases, especially while these remain within OPW’s remit. Members will agree that there is merit in exploring these recommendations further. However, it is not within the remit of the committee to do so, because almost everything Mr. Morgan refers to is a policy matter for the relevant Minister. I propose that we forward this correspondence, with his permission, to the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach, as it deals with the OPW, and it is under that committee's remit to consider policy matters. We will ask for its consideration and any action it deems appropriate. Members may also wish to raise the matter in other fora. Is that agreed?