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

That is fine. We will keep it under review.

No. 2497 is a matter that should be dealt with in private session.

Nos. 2500 and 2511, dated 23 October, are from an individual with an inquiry regarding the school transport system. We have already written to the Department requesting a note on whether Bus Éireann's auditors and the Department are satisfied that the scheme profits are not or have not been used to cross-subsidise Bus Éireann since the scheme began. I propose we note the correspondence and wait for the Department to respond.

There was an article in a Sunday newspaper on 3 November in which it was stated that three Oireachtas committees are seeking answers to school bus scheme profits claim. The Committee of Public Accounts is on the case. We have mentioned it. The Joint Committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport is looking at the matter from a Bus Éireann point of view and the Joint Committee on Education and Skills is also examining it. We are not going to do any more. I do not believe in three committees of this House dealing with one item of correspondence so this committee will take no further action. If we get a response to the last letter, well and good, but it is not fair on the Oireachtas to have three different committees working on the same topic. I understand what is involved. The matter affects the Committee of Public Accounts, Bus Éireann and the school bus service but there needs to be a system here to ensure that members of three different committees are not reading the same correspondence at three different meetings in the one week. We will wait for a response.

We are nearly there. We said that we would have the witnesses come in about now. The next item is the financial statements and accounts since the previous meeting. A few have been received. The first relate to Fáilte Ireland, the National Tourism Development Authority . Its turnover for the year was €140 million. It received a qualified audited opinion on the basis of its deferred pension asset. Fáilte Ireland's accounts do not recognise pension asset funding in respect of its pension scheme. We have seen that previously. It is a standard one.

Next is the Mental Health Commission. Again, this is a qualified audit opinion. The cost of the superannuation entitlements are not properly recognised versus international accounting standards as the standard of qualification in the health service.

The next one is Galway and Roscommon Education and Training Board, ETB. It is a clear audit opinion. Attention is drawn to non-compliant procurement of €698,000 and the board's concern is regarding the adequacy of the internal audit resources. They have all mentioned that latter point. We are writing to them for a detailed report on the non-compliance with public procurement and to request them to give us the details of the contracts and the measures that are in place and as to why that happened. In the new year, we hope to compile all the sets of accounts that have come to us in order to deal with that topic. For now, it is a compilation of information. We will not ask people to rework it at this stage.