Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

We are joined by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Seamus McCarthy, a permanent witness to the committee. He is accompanied today by Mr. John Riordan. No apologies have been received. The first item on the agenda is the minutes of our meetings on 22 and 24 November and on 1 and 8 December last. Are the minutes agreed? Agreed. In terms of matters arising from the minutes, we will take it that any relevant matters arising will be dealt with in the normal course of our work.

The next item on the agenda is correspondence. We have a considerable amount of correspondence to deal with because it has been some time since we had a public meeting. The first item of correspondence is the opening statement from Mr. Brendan McDonagh, CEO of NAMA, which we have noted and published. We will be dealing with that later.

The next item is category B correspondence from Accounting Officers and Ministers. These are follow-up items relating to previous meetings. The first item is No. 201B, an e-mail from Brown Rudnick expressing surprise and disappointment regarding the publishing of details of a letter sent to the committee prior to its consideration by the committee. We did receive a letter and I saw references to extracts from it in the newspapers before it was considered by this committee. It is extremely disappointing that some members chose to go down that route. We note the points made by Brown Rudnick, which are fair comment. We will note it and publish that remark.

The next item is correspondence from Professor Philip Lane, Governor of the Central Bank, regarding State organisations lodging money with the Central Bank. We will note and publish that letter. The next item is correspondence from Ms Niamh O'Donoghue, Secretary General of the Department of Social Protection, providing information requested at our meeting on 20 October. We will note and publish that. The next item of correspondence is No. 217B from Mr. Seán Ó Foghlú, Secretary General of the Department of Education and Skills, providing an update to the committee on the transfer of property under the 2002 indemnity agreement. We will note and publish that. There is other correspondence relating to that general indemnity agreement which I will refer to later.

The next item is No. 219 B (i) and (ii), correspondence from the OPW regarding rents paid by that office and the Department of Social Protection. We will note and publish that. The next item is No. 220B, correspondence from the Minister for Finance providing a response to a request for information from the committee in relation to NAMA and Project Eagle. We will note and publish that and will also include it on the Project Eagle section of our site, which is an internal method of recording all Project Eagle related correspondence for committee members. The next item is No. 221B from Ms Michelle Lowe of NAMA providing a response to a request for information from the committee relating to Project Eagle. We will note and publish that too.

I will now move on to Category C correspondence which is correspondence from private individuals and any other correspondence.

Nos. 181C, (i) to (iii), is correspondence from the North Meath Communities Development Association in regard to an ongoing issue with the HSE. This matter was dealt with in some detail by the previous Committee of Public Accounts, which also wrote to the HSE at that time. However, there was a recognition that this is a matter of a disputed contract and ultimately a matter for the HSE. I would like to defer consideration of this matter to our next meeting to allow members time to study the documentation.