Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The next item is the work programme. I want to make some suggestions. I will explain how this works practically. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report will be out at the end of September. We will have to give people at least a week to come in. We might speak to the Comptroller and Auditor General closer to that time about who we might invite in. Maybe that will happen in early October. We will probably have three meetings around the end of September and the beginning of October before we have a chance to deal with the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. I suggest that in the meantime, pending the Comptroller and Auditor General's documents, we should hear from certain organisations that have not been here before or have not been here for a long time. I think it could be very useful. Maybe we will ask the secretariat to arrange such meetings for dates around the end of September.

I suggest that an invitation be sent to the Data Protection Commissioner because data protection is a big issue in Ireland now. We have big European responsibilities here. We want to check the Data Protection Commissioner's governance and arrangements. I do not think An Bord Pleanála has been here for quite some time. People might want to see how An Bord Pleanála is being operated. The Charities Regulatory Authority has not been here for quite some time. Having gone through a list, I have decided to suggest those three organisations for early invitation. We are not waiting for the Comptroller and Auditor General's report in those cases. We will ask all three bodies to have up-to-date financial information. It will not look good if they do not have their 2018 accounts audited and available to us. If such accounts are not available, we will go ahead with the meetings anyway. The bodies in question will be required to provide draft information or something on which we can have a meaningful discussion. We need up-to-date information, even if it is awaiting publication or final sign-off.

It has been mentioned that Bord na gCon will be in at an early stage. When we get the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, we will see if there is anything on Bord na gCon in it. There are some other items that have been on our work programme for some time, but are not specifically listed for a meeting. We have said we will come back to the issues of capital projects, procurement and public private partnerships. The issue of protected disclosures is hanging around across many Departments the whole time. I think we will try to start with the Data Protection Commissioner, An Bord Pleanála and the Charities Regulatory Authority. We will consider those types of subjects. As soon as NAMA is ready with Project Nantes, officials from NAMA will be asked to come in as well. When we get the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, we will be able to move into other areas in early October. We want to let the secretariat make some arrangements over the summer so that meetings will have been arranged for us when we come back. I went through a good list before settling on the organisations I am suggesting. I think it would be useful to invite them in.