John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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We will include that in the proposal. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 3A on the agenda is correspondence from Accounting Officers and Ministers. Correspondence was received on 7 November from the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, on the need to review the legal code and investigate processes with regard to white collar crime. This correspondence arose from proceedings at a previous meeting. I ask committee members to note this correspondence and perhaps we might examine it in the context of the bank stabilisation report which is being concluded.

No. 3A.2 is correspondence, dated 8 November 2013, from Mr. Martin Whelan of NAMA on the involvement of NAMA in Mill Shopping Centre, Clondalkin. The correspondence is to be noted.

No. 3A.3 is correspondence, dated 12 November 2013, from Mr. Robert Watt, Secretary General, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, providing information requested at the meeting of 3 October. The correspondence is to be noted. It was only received yesterday and is now on the agenda. I propose that it be published, but some of the answers are not answers. It is quite appalling that it took so long for the Department to respond to us and, in my opinion, the information contained in some of the answers is simply not good enough. We should consider it more fully at our next meeting. I will give members the opportunity to read the correspondence and look at the questions asked and the replies given. They should bear in mind the length of time it took to provide us with the replies and that some of the questions have not been answered. Deputy Sean Fleming raised this issue at our last meeting. I propose to include it for discussion at our next meeting before the witnesses come before us and include with it the minutes we receive from the Department to examine the quality of the answers given.

No. 3B.1 is correspondence, dated 5 November 2013, from Augustus Cullen Solicitors for Marie O’Sullivan regarding The Warrens Wicklow Hostel. The correspondence is to be noted.

No. 3B.2 is correspondence received on 7 November from an anonymous source regarding consultancy fees of €186 million paid by AIB in 2011. The correspondence is to be noted. This is not a matter for the committee. As AIB is 99% owned by the State, we will send it to the Department of Finance for its view on the use of consultants, how they were paid and the tender process involved. While it is not specifically a matter for the committee, it is similar to the question raised by Deputy Shane Ross. We should insist on a full and comprehensive answer from the Department of Finance on these issues because taxpayers' money is involved. There is no point in examining the matter long after the event.

No. 3B.3 is correspondence, dated 16 November 2013, from Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú, Secretary General, Department of Education and Skills, on complaints made to the Minister in 2008 by Councillor Padge Reck. The correspondence is to be noted and a copy forwarded to Councillor Reck.

No. 3B.4 is correspondence, dated 23 October 2013, from an anonymous source on governance issues at the Institute of Technology, Tralee. The correspondence is to be noted and a copy forwarded to the Department of Education and Skills and the Higher Education Authority for appropriate follow-up and a note on the action taken in dealing with the matter. I propose that we invite people involved in the sector because we have received a number of complaints about institutes of technology. An issue in one institution was raised in the House yesterday by a Deputy who will be writing to us about it. Perhaps we might examine the correspondence collectively as a unit. We will produce a report on Waterford Institute of Technology and it may be opportune to bring in the complaints we have received about the institutes of technology and include a commentary on them in the report.

No. 3C is documents related to today’s meeting. No. 3C.1 is correspondence received on 11 November from Dr. Ambrose McLoughlin, Secretary General, Department of Health regarding a report on medical cards and matters to be considered at this meeting. The correspondence is to be noted and published.

No. 3C.2 is correspondence received on 11 November from Dr. Ambrose McLoughlin, Secretary General, Department of Health, on briefing material on matters to be considered at this meeting. The correspondence is to be noted and published.

No. 3C.3 is correspondence received on 13 November from Mr. Tony O’Brien, director general, HSE, including his opening statement. The correspondence is to be noted and published.

No. 3C.4 is correspondence received on 13 November from Dr. Ambrose McLoughlin including his opening statement. The correspondence is to be noted and published.

No. 4 is reports, statements and accounts received since our meeting on 24 October. No. 4.1 is the annual report from Pobal, while No. 4.2 concerns the local government fund. These items are to be noted. Pobal allocated money to the Tipperary hostel, which is a question which is to come before us again. We should ask it about the money it allocated and perhaps obtain information from the other agencies on the amounts allocated by them to this project and examine the company now in charge on whether it is sustainable with reference to the accounts.

The work programme is on screen. I propose that we meet the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, DDDA, on 6 February 2014 to examine its financial statements for 2012. We are finalising a date with Professor Niamh Brennan in respect of the DDDA Glass Bottle site. As soon as we agree a date, she will appear before us.

No. 6 is other business. The agenda for the meeting on Thursday, 21 November is that at 10 a.m. we will meet representatives of the National Gallery of Ireland to examine the 2012 annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General - chapter 15, staff appointments at the National Gallery of Ireland, and Vote 34 - National Gallery of Ireland. Is that agreed? Agreed.