Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 11 October 2018

Public Accounts Committee

Business of Committee

9:00 am

Photo of Seán FlemingSeán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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It is a separate report. I will request the secretariat to send an information note to members in the next day or two. Not everyone will remember the status of all the colleges in that regard. The note will have a clear paragraph on the issue. It will indicate whether the report is with us, the Minister, the Comptroller and Auditor General or is still awaited. The reports that are not with the committee cannot be discussed, unless the discussion is about how soon we can expect to receive them. We will have the note circulated. Are members satisfied that the committee should discuss the matters mentioned in the afternoon? It will all hang on the financial statements, but we will be conscious that the reports that are not with the committee cannot be discussed.

The meeting to be held the following week, on Thursday, 25 October, will be about housing, in respect of which the secretariat has made a proposal. There are two issues to be dealt with. First, there is the housing supply issue which covers the building and provision of houses. Second, there is the issue of housing supports such as rent supplement, the housing assistance payment, HAP, and so on. It will take two meetings to consider them. There is so much to be discussed that we could not possibly cover every aspect in one meeting. I propose that we start with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. The committee has received its 2017 accounts and we will deal with the issue of housing and the local government fund. Representatives of the Housing Agency will also be before the committee. As mentioned in the financial statements, it promotes the concept of sustainable communities. We will also discuss the issue of land use. Do we also need to speak to representatives from the Housing Finance Agency, the body that provides finance for local authorities for housing provision?