Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will certainly thank him for the earlier correspondence, for the information and the report he provided, for attending the meeting in private session, and for the follow-up documentation we have now received. While we will send his correspondence on to the other committee, we have all learned from this process and we can all use this information in our roles in the Oireachtas, so we will thank him for that. That is agreed.

No. 2285C is from a company, dated 27 June 2019. At our meeting on 13 June, we decided to forward a number of items of correspondence in respect of this company to the OPW for a response. The secretariat routinely requests the correspondent's permission and, in this instance, the company has declined to provide consent for this purpose. The matter relates to specifications for cell windows in Garda stations and courthouses. The correspondent believes the winning tenders are not meeting the health and safety specifications set out in the tender documents. I propose to write to both the OPW and An Garda Síochána to ask if they are completely satisfied that the health and safety standards and specifications for the supply and fitting of cell windows are being met. I propose that we also ask the OPW to describe the controls in place to ensure the winning tenders deliver the specification set out in tender documents. In conversation with one of the correspondents, the clerk to the committee was given to understand that the matter has also been referred to the Health and Safety Authority, HSA. I propose we write to the HSA for an update on the matter. The company does not want us to send its correspondence on directly, but to raise the general issue of tendering so that what is in the tender document is subsequently delivered, and that the mechanisms to do that are in place.