Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome everyone to the meeting. Happy New Year to one and all, guests and members.

On behalf of the committee, I congratulate Deputy Carroll MacNeill on her appointment as Minister of State at the Department of Finance. It is a very important role. I acknowledge her contribution to this committee and I wish her well in that new role. Hopefully, we will have a replacement soon. We do not have one yet, but I would say we will have one in the next week or two.

If attending from within the committee room, I ask members and all in attendance to exercise personal responsibility to protect themselves and others from the risk of contracting Covid-19. Members of the committee attending remotely must do so 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 Parliament.

The Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Seamus McCarthy, is a permanent witness to the committee. He is accompanied this morning by Ms Paula O’Connor, deputy director of audit at the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

This morning, we are engaging with officials from the Housing Agency and the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority to examine the following: financial statements 2020 – Housing Agency; financial statements 2021 – Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority; the report of the accounts of public services 2021; and chapter 7 - the Housing Agency revolving acquisition fund.

We are joined by the following officials from the Housing Agency: Mr. Bob Jordan, chief executive; Mr. Jim Baneham, director of delivery and innovation; and Ms Claire Feeney, director of services and inclusion. We are also joined by the following officials from the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority: Ms Susanna Lyons, chief executive officer; Mr. Steven Sheridan, head of performance and communications; and Ms Paula Nyland, head of finance and corporate services. We are also joined by officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Mr. Feargal Ó Coigligh and Mr. Roger Harrington, principal officer. You are all very welcome.

I remind all those in attendance to have their mobile phones switched off or on silent mode.

Members will want to note that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage advises that the Housing Agency’s financial statements 2021 are due to be presented to the Government next Tuesday, 24 January. They are expected to be laid before the Houses following that date. We will be examining the 2020 financial statements today. The committee may wish to convene a further meeting to examine the 2021 financial statements.

Before I proceed, I want to ask about the following. We are disappointed not to have the 2021 statements here. We are now in 2023. We understand they are coming next Tuesday, but I wish to ask the Department on what date did it receive the agency's 2021 accounts?