Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are continuing with our business, as normal. There is correspondence from Mr. Peter Finnegan, Clerk of the Dáil and Secretary General of the Houses of the Oireachtas Service, on the report on the purchase of the printing facilities. We will deal with it in due course as part of correspondence.

The first item on the agenda is the minutes of the meeting on 21 November 2019. Are they agreed? Agreed. Nothing arises from the minutes that will not come up in the normal course of today's meeting.

The next item is correspondence. There are three categories, the first being category A, comprising No. 2572A and No. 2580A, from the Revenue Commissioners. They are briefing documents and opening statements for today's meeting. We will note and publish them. Is that agreed? Agreed.

The next items are correspondence from Accounting Officers and their Ministers and follow-up to meetings of the Committee of Public Accounts and other items for publishing. The first item is No. 2563B, from Ms Anne Graham, chief executive, National Transport Authority, NTA. It follows on from a query from the committee on 22 October. Her letter is dated 19 November 2019. We raised a number of issues. We asked for a note of clarification on what is meant by "value for money" in regard to future projects or investments, including clarification of how it is measured and calculated, in addition to the inputs and outputs and whether carbon emissions are taken into account when calculating it. There is a detailed response to that question covering a few pages. Examples are given of the typical costs and benefits of a project. They are well established. We will publish them today.

We also sought a note on fines for breaches of carbon targets, to include whether this is a factor in the medium and long-term planning of the NTA. It is stated the carbon targets are a matter for the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. It would not be for the NTA to deal with them.

Third, we sought a note on reports carried out or commissioned by the NTA in relation to an environmental value-for-money calculation. Ms Graham states no environmental value-for-money calculation has been specifically carried out but it is stated there are three headings under which the NTA examines all matters: social value, economic value and environmental value. One combined report is produced covering the three areas, not three separate reports.

We asked for an outline of the models used in calculating future demand for transport. The response provides various graphs showing how the NTA forecasts future transport demand.

We asked for a note on the assumptions of behaviour used when modelling projected demand, with particular reference to the regional cities of Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford. There was a short response to that but the matter is dealt with substantially under note 4.

Last, we asked for a note clarifying whether the NTA employs an environmental economist. The response states the NTA does not directly employ an environmental economist. However, through the consultancy framework agreements that the NTA has made, it has access to economists specialising in the assessment of environmental issues. We will note and publish that.

No. 2565B, from the clerk to the Joint Committee on Health, dated 20 November 2019, acknowledges receipt of our document sent to that committee in respect of public-private partnerships in the health centres. The committee noted the correspondence that we received from the HSE regarding the operation of public-private partnerships for health centres. We will note and publish that.

No. 2566B is from the private secretary to the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality and is dated 22 November 2019. It provides details requested by the committee regarding the numbers of applications for asylum and international protection for the period from 2005 to 21 November 2019. This information was included in our periodic report. I acknowledge and thank all the members and the staff who participated and thank them for attending at the launch of the report last Tuesday. The information provided was one of the final pieces of information. We were very pleased to be able to include it in the report.