Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I suspect it will be about €5 billion in the coming year. It is good to get that information and we have it now. It shows that we will be on the case when we get an answer from a Department that is not exactly correct. We got this clarification as a result of asking. We will note and publish this reply.

The next item is No. 244B from Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú, Secretary General, Department of Education and Skills, dated 30 September 2019, providing a copy of a communication issued by the Higher Education Authority, HEA, to higher education institutions in respect of property acquisitions.

This was in regard to our request for a liaising or monitoring capacity in respect of capital acquisitions above a certain value by educational sector bodies to ensure the institutions were not competing against each other to acquire particular assets with taxpayers' money. Mr. Ó Foghlú states that the Department has a liaison role and is asking organisations that are in the same geographic area to liaise with each other. It does not have a legal role. It will ultimately go back to the Department for sanction. It was a good point for the committee to highlight and a circular has been issued to the various higher education institutes.