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

My apologies. That is correct. She resigned three days earlier. That concludes correspondence and we will move on to the work programme.

A draft programme has been circulated to members for discussion. It is appearing on the screens. Next week is the recess week. It is agreed that correspondence for the next meeting will be circulated to members on 2 November. On 9 November, we will meet representatives of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communication to discuss SEAI's 2022 financial statements, 2022 appropriation account for Vote 29 and chapter 8 of the report on the accounts of public services on the performance of certain residential retrofit schemes. I remind members that meeting will take place in committee room 2 in order to facilitate the Finance Bill. The Committee on Finance wants to meet in this room for technical reasons. We will be in committee room 2 that week.

On 16 November, we will meet representatives of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform on its appropriation accounts for 2022, chapter 5 of the report on the accounts of public services and the format and content of appropriation accounts.

It was agreed to invite the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Housing Agency to examine chapter 11 on the utilisation of the land aggregation scheme sites on 23 November. However, the Department has informed us that key members of staff, including the Secretary General who was before the committee earlier, are not available on that date. I propose that we reschedule this engagement to 14 December and instead invite the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to attend on 23 November in relation to the 2022

appropriation account and chapter 19 on the National Training Fund. That chapter is being done by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. In his annual report, the Comptroller and Auditor General highlighted the issue of funding for the National Training Fund. Does any member wish to comment on any of that? It is the proposed line-up from now until Christmas. Is everyone happy? Okay. That is good.

On 30 November, we will meet representatives of the Department of Finance to discuss the Department’s 2022 appropriation account and the relevant chapters from the Comptroller and Auditor General’s annual report.

Last week, it was agreed to meet with the Department of Health on 7 December to examine the 2022 appropriation account for Vote 38 and some specific areas of interest, which are the establishment of the new regional health areas; budget controls and governance, which are topical issues; budget outcomes; agency costs; and service level agreements with section 38 and section 39 organisations. That is the switch we are making near Christmas. I propose we meet with the Housing Agency and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in relation to chapter 11 on the utilisation of the land aggregation scheme sites on 14 December. That will be the final meeting of the year.

The committee previously discussed the possibility of holding another meeting with RTÉ before the end of the year. We have had some discussion of that in recent weeks. If we decide to do so, I propose that we use a Thursday afternoon session or seek an additional meeting slot, if necessary. Do members wish to make a comment? We have been back and forth with the clerk to the committee to move around those slots and try to get in the bodies that members have put into the programme. Does anybody want to comment or make a different suggestion? Now is the chance. Is the work programme agreed? Agreed. That concludes consideration of the work programme.

The last item on the agenda is any other business. Do any members wish to raise any matters? Okay. We will briefly move to private session before adjourning until 9.30 a.m. on Thursday, 9 November, when we will engage with representatives of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications.