Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 2 December 2020

4:30 pm

Photo of Brian StanleyBrian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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It would be useful to include the matter in the work programme, because it is clearly an issue about which a number of members are concerned. We can include it on the list when we are moving the next item on the agenda, which is the work programme.

That concludes the correspondence, and we now move on to the work programme for the months ahead. Some of our upcoming engagements are displayed on the screens. Tomorrow we will be launching our report on NAMA's 2019 financial statement and also the Report No. 109 of the Comptroller and Auditor General, which concerns Project Nantes.

On 9 and 10 December, we will have further engagement over two days with the Department of Justice and the Prison Service. This doubles the time that we have to examine the accounts, and we have already agreed going forward that we will try and use that approach rather than trying to cram all the work into the one day. We then have one public engagement left before the end of the year, which takes place on 17 December, when Caranua, which has been discussed today, will appear before the committee.

There are a number of engagements provisionally scheduled for January 2021, which the members can see listed before them. We will ask that the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland is included in that. On 14 January, it is proposed that we examine the Office of Government Procurement 2019 appropriation account, and on 20 and 21 January, it is proposed that we examine the HSE's 2019 financial statement, with a focus on the awarding of Government grants to agencies, which are referred to as section 38 and 39 agencies, which Deputy Burke, who is now absent, has raised a number of times, and about which a number of members are concerned. We will also look at agency costs and value for money. On the second day, we will focus on the integrated financial management and procurement system and capital expenditure. On Thursday, 28 January, it is proposed that we examine the 2019 financial statements of the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board.

There are also a number of other engagements suggested for February 2021. On 3 and 4 February, it is proposed that we examine the 2019 appropriation account for the Department of Communications, Climate Action and the Environment, and focus on chapter 9 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the remediation of landfill sites and the expenditure related to the national broadband plan. On 11 February, it is proposed that we examine the National Shared Services Office, in particular, chapter 5 of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on the implementation of financial management of shared services.

Are members happy with the work programme as it stands? Yes. There are have also been a few additions to the programme. I think RTÉ has been added to the list of organisations engaging with the committee as part of the draft work programme. If it has not been added to the list, I propose that we add it to the programme.

For the benefit of Deputy Carthy who was temporarily absent, we are discussing the draft work programme, and he will find a list of proposed engagements on the screen in front of him. One of the Departments we are considering engaging with is the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and the Media, and I have suggested that we add RTÉ to the list of engagements for the new year.