Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Members are welcome to this online meeting.

Apologies have been received from Deputy McAuliffe, who had to leave for Dáil business, and Deputy MacSharry.

Due to the current situation regarding Covid-19, only the clerk, support staff and I are in the committee room. Members of the committee are attending remotely from within the precincts of Leinster House. This is due to the constitutional requirement that, in order to participate in public meetings, members must be physically present within the confines of the place where Parliament has chosen to sit, namely Leinster House or the Convention Centre Dublin. I will ask Members to confirm their location before contributing to ensure we are adhering to this constitutional requirement.

We are joined remotely by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Seamus McCarthy, as a permanent witness to the committee.

Those in attendance are asked to mute themselves when not contributing in order that we do not pick up any background noise or feedback. They should also use the button to virtually raise their hands when they wish to contribute and take it down afterwards.

Members are reminded of the provision of Standing Order 218 that the committee will refrain from inquiring into the merits of a policy or policies of the Government, or a Minister, or the merits of the objectives of such policies. Members are also reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

The Dáil recently passed a motion to change Standing Orders to use a more gender-neutral term than Chairman. The Dáil has agreed that the word "Cathaoirleach" will be used instead. On that basis, will Members address the Chair as "A Chathaoirligh"? For the committee's information, the clerk will circulate the relevant changes to Standing Orders following the meeting.

The first item of business is the minutes of our meetings of 18 May and 20 May 2021, which have been circulated to members. Are the minutes agreed? Agreed. As usual, the minutes will be published on the committee’s webpage.

There are no accounts or financial statements for consideration this week.

Moving to correspondence, as agreed, items not flagged for discussion for this meeting will continue to be dealt with in accordance with the proposed actions that have been circulated. Decisions taken by the committee on correspondence are recorded in the minutes of the committee’s meetings and published on the committee’s webpage.

The first category of correspondence under which members have flagged items for discussion is that from Accounting Officers and-or Ministers in follow-up to committee meetings.

The first five items were held over from our meeting last Tuesday, 18 May 2021, for consideration in public session.

The first item is correspondence No. 550B from Mr. Sean Ó Foghlú, Secretary General, Department of Education, dated 30 April 2021, providing information requested by the committee on the transfer of properties from religious congregations to the State.

At our meeting last week, we agreed to note and publish this item. It was also agreed to request a comprehensive report from the Department regarding the overall position on the transfer of properties and payments from religious congregations to the State, including details of the impediments to transfers and payments and why the processes have taken so long. We also agreed to request that the Department keep the committee informed regarding the status of properties that remain to be transferred.

This has dragged on for a long time. The indemnity agreement was made in 2002 and we are now 19 years on.