Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 2 December 2020

4:30 pm

Photo of Matt CarthyMatt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The first issue I want to raise arising from the correspondence also relates to temporary accommodation prefabs. I am always wary when temporary solutions are in place for a long period because we end up creating vested interests and people who have an interest in a bad practice continuing for longer. The three largest suppliers of rental accommodation in 2019 were three companies that provide Portakabins and prefabs. Can we ask the Department to clarify the number of students being educated in such structures?

The school Deputy Murphy spoke about has made use of temporary accommodation for 20 years. We know from the work of previous Committees of Public Accounts that this is not a cheap option. Over time, the funds expended on temporary accommodation in a single school would buy a small house in Dalkey, just to give Deputy Devlin's constituency a mention. We are speaking about substantial money. It would be useful if the committee could ask of the Department, in tabular format, all of the schools using temporary structures, the duration they have been used and the cost associated with them to date. That is important.

I fully endorse Deputy Murphy's point on legal claims. It requires much more scrutiny. It is not just the Department of Education but it is a good place to start. As she said, it is very opaque to find out exactly how much in any given year was spent on settling legal claims. It is very hard to find information, particularly where claims were settled or if there was a non-disclosure element to the deal. The State could have been forfeiting substantial sums due to negligence, for example. We hear anecdotes public servants making complaints about another public servant and the Department settles. The public servant at the heart of it could be promoted in an external competition and nobody realises that person is the reason the State is out substantial funds. Is the Comptroller and Auditor General in a position to give us an analysis on the legal costs associated with the Department over a period of time as opposed to just one year? As the correspondence correctly states, a claim might be made in 2020 but it might not be settled until 2023. Usually, when a Department comes before us in a given year, its representative states a claim that was settled last year relates to something from five years ago and that the problems have been addressed. If we had an overarching analysis, it would be useful for the committee.