Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

-----in view of the fact that until matters regarding the legal process have been concluded to some extent, there would be a pause.

The next category of correspondence is correspondence from and related to private individuals and any other correspondence. The following items have been held over from previous meetings and we will take them together. The first is No. 1574C from Deputy Neasa Hourigan, dated 11 November 2022, the second is No. 1577C from a former member of the committee, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, and the third is one from Deputy Matt Carthy, dated 15 November 2022. They concern the Charities Regulator and the alleged operation of a body as a charity that is not registered as such. I understand the same matter was raised at a meeting of the previous Committee of Public Accounts in November 2019 and it is referred to in both items of correspondence. I ask members to keep in mind the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the House or by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. At our meeting on 24 November, we agreed to request the Charities Regulator to respond to the matter. This letter issued before the recess but unfortunately the individual to whom it was sent no longer works for the Charities Regulator. The secretariat is following this up with the Charities Regulator. I propose to hold over the matter again until the response is received. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 1584C, dated 19 November 2022, was received from an individual and was also held over. It is a press release regarding Horse Sport Ireland and the role of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. It is also proposed to note and publish another item of correspondence held over from the meeting of 15 December 2022. This correspondence was flagged for discussion at the meeting of 15 December by Deputy Carthy but has not been flagged for discussion at today's meeting. In the meantime, further correspondence on the same matter, No. 1647C dated 31 December 2022, has been received from the same individual. It encloses a copy of correspondence to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine regarding the procurement process for the horse and pony studbook. It is proposed to note this correspondence and write to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine to request further information regarding the matters raised. Are members happy enough with that? Obviously, Horse Sport Ireland is not accountable to the committee. We will note and publish this correspondence.

No. 1639C, dated 21 December 2022, is from Deputy Catherine Murphy and is a proposal regarding the committee's work programme. It is proposed to note this correspondence. With the Deputy's agreement, we will consider this when we discuss the work programme. That concludes the consideration of correspondence for this week.

We will move to the work programme. At our meeting on 15 December last, we agreed our work programme for January and February as follows. On 26 January, we will engage with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to examine the appropriation accounts and three chapters from the Comptroller and Auditor General's 2021 report, including chapter 7 which we examined earlier today. It will be open to members to discuss any matters arising from our engagement today. On 2 February, we will engage with the HSE to resume our examination of the 2021 financial statements, with a focus on expenditure on disability services, including the provision of disability services by outside agencies, that is, section 38 and 39 organisations; emergency care; and measures to tackle waiting lists.

An issue arose over the Christmas period. The out-of-hours GP service in the midlands region collapsed and the HSE, according to the best information available to me, had very little warning of this. The service was provided by a private company. It sought more money in November, which it received, and the HSE looked for some evidence of the company's accounts and expenditure as justification for granting it more money. I want to be careful in what I am saying but that information may not have been forthcoming. While the HSE was awaiting a response, the company, on 23 or 24 December, notified the HSE that it was pulling the service across the midlands counties, not just counties Laois and Offaly but also the other midland counties, from midnight on new year's night. The HSE put a temporary solution in place to carry over until 15 January. That expired on Sunday night and the latest update, as of yesterday, was that the HSE is still trying to put an interim solution in place for a number of months to get over that. Meanwhile, there is a complexity involved in how this service is provided across the State. There are a number of different models and a whole range of providers. With the permission of members, I ask that we add this to our work programme. I am reluctant to add anything given the importance of focusing on the matters before us but out-of-hours services are basic services where life and death situations arise. Members will have seen all the reports in the media over Christmas and since about accident and emergency departments being overwhelmed. Part of that problem is caused by the absence of out-of-hours GP services and difficulties accessing them. I am sure these issues are arising in the areas all members represent. Last year, the committee discussed the withdrawal of SouthDoc services.

I ask, with the perseverance of the committee, that we would add that to it.