Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Next we will deal with correspondence from and relating to private individuals and any other correspondence.

No. 879C is correspondence I submitted to the committee on 9 November 2021 requesting the committee to make inquiries with IDA Ireland arising from HSE correspondence regarding the procurement of ventilators from China. Obviously, that is self-explanatory. I again ask the committee to agree to make those inquiries. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 881C is from Mr. Tadhg Daly, chief executive officer of Nursing Homes Ireland, dated 9 November 2021.

It requests an update on the implementation of the recommendations in our report regarding the examination of the Comptroller and Auditor General's Special Report 110 - Nursing Homes Support Scheme (Fair Deal Scheme), which was published in January. One of the recommendations was that the value for money review of the Nursing Homes Support Scheme be published without delay. It was initiated by the Department of Health in March 2018 and was due for publication in March 2019. Over two and a half years later it has still not been published. We looked for an update on this review and on the report concerning the costs and timeline for the national children's hospital from the Department on 18 October and issued a reminder earlier this month but have not yet received a response. It is proposed to provide Nursing Homes Ireland with the updates the committee has received in respect of the implementation of its recommendations and to advise that the Department of Health will appear before the committee on 16 December. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Deputy Munster flagged an item of correspondence. We could hold it over. That is probably the fairest thing to do, so she has an opportunity to address it. If we can move on to the work programme, it is agreed until the end of the year. We previously agreed to revisit the work programme for the new year in late November. It is suggested that we do so next week. Is that agreed? Agreed. Does any member wish to raise anything in respect of the work plan? We will be coming back to it next week anyway. Is there any other business? I take it there is not. We will briefly go into private session before adjourning until Thursday, 25 November, when we will engage with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.