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

If it is on a Thursday, the quorum will already be established. If there are ten of us or three of us, the meeting can proceed. That is why I am suggesting a Thursday. I thank Mr. Morgan for his continued communication with the committee on this issue. Obviously, he has a lot of experience.

The next correspondence is No. 2178 C, from the European Lotto Betting Association, which is requesting a meeting with the committee. This matter is not within our remit. The licence was issued by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Perhaps it is a justice issue. I believe it is about gambling. We will write back. It is certainly not within our remit to hear the association's views. It has probably written to every Deputy and its representatives are probably meeting Deputies individually. We will let them proceed as they are doing on that matter.

No. 2180C is from Deputy Niall Collins on behalf of an individual. It concerns a donation to the Irish Cancer Society in Kerry. This matter is not within the remit of the committee and I propose that we advise the Deputy accordingly.

No. 2189C, from Ms Moyagh Murdock, chief executive officer of the Road Safety Authority, RSA, is a response to a request from the committee on foot of correspondence from an individual alleging a waste of public moneys by the authority. The authority provides a comprehensive response to the remarks. I propose to send the response to the correspondent. It concerns the production of CDs for the visually impaired. We dealt with this previously.

The final correspondence, No. 2151B, will take a few minutes to deal with but I want to try to clear the decks on it. We will move fairly quickly. It is the minute from the Minister for Finance. It concerns our periodic report for the May-July period. We can move quite quickly on this. It would be remiss of us, in view of the time, our issuing of our report and the time it took the Department of Finance to report back to us, not to move expeditiously. Members need not take out the previous report. It had 29 recommendations, I believe. I will make a fleeting reference to those we need to think about and then make an observation.

The first recommendation was for the Department of Finance and concerned a target for presenting the annual financial statements by all organisations. The recommendation is accepted and the Department will draft a new circular, which will be incorporated.

The next recommendation is that Departments should ensure circulars are fully complied with. That is in regard to the timeline for accounts. The first recommendation concerned presenting for audit and the second concerned laying before the Oireachtas after audit. It is accepted.

The next recommendation was to the Higher Education Authority to ensure boards or bodies under its remit have the range of competencies necessary to carry out their functions. We mentioned the finance area. The recommendation is accepted by the Departments of Public Expenditure and Reform and Education and Skills. The boards are now being requested to ensure they have a balance of skills and experience. Under the Technological Universities Act 2018, it is a requirement that the boards agree with the HSE the competence required of external board members. That is important and that is accepted.

The next recommendation states, "The Committee recommends that where a public body is not totally satisfied that it can conduct an internal investigation objectively, it should recuse itself or, in the case of a protected disclosure, use the services available under the Office of Government Procurement's Framework Agreement for the Receipt and Investigation of Protected Disclosures." That is accepted. The framework is in place. It is a multi-sector framework. The recommendation is accepted.

The next recommendation is that the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform consider measures to prevent unnecessary expenditure resulting from public bodies competing against each other in the purchase of buildings. That happened in Cork in respect of two institutions. The Department has noted the recommendation. It is stated each organisation has a right to bid for a property if it comes on the market but the officials are saying they are trying to co-ordinate. They see the merit but cannot prevent organisations from looking at property.