Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Not satisfactorily. Next is Nos. 2421, 2422, 2423 and 2424, dated 27 September 2019, from an individual who has raised a number of matters relating to wards of court. We are familiar with this issue which has been before the Oireachtas. No. 2421 relates to the proposal for fuel increases, which is a policy matter that is not within the remit of the committee. No. 2422 is a copy of the letter sent to the Courts Service in respect of wards of court. No. 2423 relates to budgetary provision for the implementation of the assisted decision-making support service, which again is a policy matter and is not within the remit of the committee. No. 2424 encloses a copy of a court document relating to wards of court. It is open to members to raise any of the matters in the Dáil Chamber or other appropriate forum. As a committee, we cannot take them any further. Individual Deputies may, however. To ensure people understand what will happen here, I note that the committee has discussed at length the matter of wards of court. The Committee on Justice and Equality has discussed it at length also and produced a substantial report that was discussed in the Dáil before the recess.

Several members of this committee contributed to that debate on the report of the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality on wards of court. I understand that once the committee - not this committee - has completed its report and it is brought to the Dáil Chamber, the committee is then finished with it. It is a matter for any individual Member of the Oireachtas to continue to raise the matter as he or she sees fit. Once it produced a report which went to the Dáil Chamber for debate, the committee effectively concluded its work on the matter. That is my reading of it. I do not know if the Committee of Public Accounts can do anything further on it. Certainly individual Members can continue to pursue the long-standing issue being raised. Do members have any comments?