Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will ask the secretariat to provide that. We have noted and discussed the correspondence at length. We are vigilant in reviewing the information presented in annual reports and distinguishing the impression it gives from the reality.

No. 2473 is correspondence from Ms Leonora Harty, assistant governor of the Higher Education Authority, HEA, providing information on international student recruitment in the higher education institutions. We discussed this after Dundalk Institute of Technology or a similar institution had been involved. This detailed note states that the HEA does not have staff in the Far East to recruit students. It is done through agents. Sometimes agents approach the college and sometimes the colleges source well-known and well-respected agencies. The universities have signed up to an international agreement to assure the quality of the agents. They regularly consult the Irish embassies in the relevant country to make sure they are dealing a bona fide agent.

This has arisen again due to non-compliance. We highlighted that procurement requirements had not been complied with when hiring an agency to recruit students in another country. That is what this correspondence concerns. It is nice to get that reply. We will note and publish that.

No. 2474 is from Mr. Brendan Gleeson at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It provides information requested by the committee on the Irish Harness Racing Association. We will note and publish that. If anybody wants to ask a question on that at our imminent meeting with the Secretary General, please do so.

No. 2475 is also from Mr. Brendan Gleeson and provides information requested after our meeting with Bord na gCon on the Irish Coursing Club's tracing systems for greyhounds and Bord na gCon's role in ensuring traceability. We will note and publish this. I have a lot of questions about this. I was concerned when this issue arose at the meeting with Bord na gCon and I am far more concerned about the matter now. We will raise this at our meeting with the Secretary General.

No. 2480 is from Mr. Cillian Byrnes at the Valuation Office. It provides further details, which we requested, on the system for determining local authority ratings. The Valuation Office states that copyright for part of the attached document lies with the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and therefore should not be published without their permission. Can we agree to note the item and respect the publishing restriction on the relevant parts?

We also mentioned the issue of car parks and how they are valued as a part of various supermarkets. The reply states that retail parking is "a relevant factor in arriving at the rateable valuation of the property" where car parking facilities are connected with the property. The letter then states: "Where a property does not have its own exclusive car parking spaces, the availability or otherwise of free or paid parking spaces nearby is one of the factors that may influence its valuation." Essentially, the Valuation Office is saying that if a property is in a town and there is paid parking somewhere nearby, the valuation will be higher.