Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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As we have a quorum of four Members, including one Deputy and one Senator, I call the meeting to order and advise Members we are in public session.

At the outset, I advise members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex in order to participate in public meetings. This does not apply to meetings held in private.

Members are also reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable or otherwise engage in speech that may be regarded as damaging to the good name of that person or entity. Therefore, if Members' statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that Members comply with any such direction.

The first item on the agenda is the minutes. Are the minutes of the last meeting, which have been circulated, agreed to? Agreed. There are three items of correspondence. The first is an invitation for members of the committee to visit the Seven Mills housing development in Clonburris, Dublin 22 which came in, as the committee will see, from those involved with the housing development. Are Members interested? It will not happen this side of the summer but we will keep the correspondence on hand. Somewhere along the line it might be in our interest to visit a housing development in an area that is reasonably accessible. We may or may not choose to do so in the autumn. We acknowledge the correspondence and hold it on file for future consideration. Is that agreed? Agreed.

The next item of correspondence is from a private citizen suggesting that the committee meet with the Gluas group to discuss the proposal for light rail in Galway city. The NTA recently published a study relating to the proposal and reported on the potential economic and social benefits of the project. There is a request for another meeting. I propose that we note the correspondence and thank them for it. We will keep the matter under consideration.

The next item is from An Coimisiún Pleanála relating to a presentation to the housing spokespersons as part of its stakeholder engagement. This correspondence was requested by our members at the last meeting with An Coimisiún Pleanála. It is a presentation from An Coimisiún Pleanála which was given to the housing spokespersons of all the parties as part of its increased stakeholder engagement. We asked for a copy of that and it has been received. We note it and will publish it. It is a very good document if people want to go through it.

The next item is the committee report. We have been working on preparing a report for the committee. I remind Members that a draft report will be circulated tomorrow morning for their comments and input. Members are asked to send any amendments to the secretariat by email by next Monday at 3 p.m. The report reflects on our meetings with the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, Uisce Éireann, the Department of Transport, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, the National Transport Authority and IBEC. In order to agree a final report, we are required to meet outside of our usual slot. We cannot publish a report without us agreeing to it. I propose that we meet in private session next Tuesday at 11 a.m. It is the only time available in committee room 1. Members will be able to join remotely if they wish. The link will issue as usual. Because it is a private meeting, people do not have to physically be here but we want to ensure we have a quorum to sign off on the report. If Members have amendments, they might send them in before Monday afternoon so we can incorporate them or if there is an issue with them, we can discuss them with the report.

Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael)
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It is at 11 a.m. on Tuesday.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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The meeting is on Tuesday at 11 a.m. The deadline for observations is 3 p.m. on Monday. We will have the private meeting outside of our usual slot on Tuesday at 11 a.m. and the launch is scheduled for 1 p.m. in the audiovisual room next Wednesday, 16 July. Representatives of the bodies included in the report will be invited to attend alongside the press corps. The launch will be recorded on Oireachtas TV. We will not have a regular meeting next week at 3 p.m. The launch will be our event next week. We will be the first committee to issue a report in this new Dáil so it is good we are in a position to do so.

As this will effectively be our last public meeting before the recess, we will want to line up some people for the autumn schedule. I suggest we try to get the Minister, Deputy Chambers, in for the first meeting, if possible. The review of the national development plan will be published at the end of this month so it will not happen in this Dáil term. I suggest we should meet the Minister at our first meeting after the summer, if at all possible, before he is totally tied up with the budget.

The other people I suggest we meet - if anyone has other names to add, please do - are on the list we discussed weeks ago. They include the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, the Environmental Protection Agency, EirGrid and Bord Gáis. We have to check with EirGrid if it is commercial or semi-State. I am not sure of its exact status.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Yes, they are. They own the grid.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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We will check their status. The OPW has many contracts for Garda stations and millions of other things it does directly.

These are all the public bodies. I then suggest - we will work on this after those bodies - we bring in some of the engineering bodies in the country, such as the Engineers Ireland association and maybe some architects. They are involved in the design of all the projects. I would then invite the County and City Management Association, because of much is done through local authorities. Finally, later on in the next session, I wish to have two meetings with the main contractors who do the work on behalf of the State. I ask the secretariat, through the Oireachtas research unit, to find out who are the main contractors that may have recently completed a big project or are in the middle of one and have experience with big infrastructural projects. This is to get their perspective on how long the process takes and what the issues are. It is all well and good meeting every public body in the country but the men and women who do the work are crucial to the whole process. I suggest, after we have gathered some information, we bring them in.

Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)
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Could it be BAM?

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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It will depend on its turnover. It will not deal with one project - we are not going to cross over PAC specifically - but it could be BAM or anyone.

Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)
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It is doing a bit in Cork on the pipeline as well which could be good.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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I suspect it will be at the top of the list. We will get the list of the top five or six. I suspect it will be there and if it is, well and good but if it is not, there will be other companies doing work for Iarnród Éireann or Uisce Éireann or our roadway projects and different projects around the country. It is important to hear from the people doing the work and getting that specification. They are the people at the end of the line who have to deliver the project. If the committee were to do this work without seeing and talking to the people who actually deliver these projects, it would be a major gap in our work. It is not a question of talking to every public servant in the country. That is important but we will want to move on after that. We do not have those names so we will ask the secretariat with the Oireachtas research facility to try to obtain some information. This meeting will take place later in the next session. We will get the other bodies in first so we will have time and will agree the names of the contractors ourselves. We will see if they are willing to come in at that stage. That will be when we get this in the next term.

That is as much as we have on that. Are there any other suggestions to add to the mix? This will take up most of the next term.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Construction Federation Ireland, as I mentioned, would be one.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, we will put it in there because we need some of the people who do the actual work. This is what we have to get to in the second half after we have spoken to all the public bodies. If anyone has any extra name, they should let the secretariat know. Members will get the feel of what we are trying to do.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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We had Uisce Éireann in but electricity is one of the connection issues regarding infrastructural projects and housing especially.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, with the ESB.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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We mentioned EirGrid.

Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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That would cover that.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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EirGrid looks after the grid itself, but for connections I imagine Electric Ireland is the right organisation.

Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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We can check that. We can invite the two to the one meeting if it is the same topic. Previously, we had both An Coimisiún Pleanála and the regulator. We can handle that. We know the space we are in for the autumn and we will invite in those types of groups.

That covers most of the issues between now and then. As I said, the draft report will go out tomorrow and amendments will be submitted by 3 p.m. on Monday. We have a meeting at 11 a.m. on Tuesday to sign off on the report. The committee has to do that. We will then launch at 1 p.m. on Wednesday in the audiovisual room. That will be the committee’s activity next Wednesday, rather than a meeting. Effectively, this will be our last meeting, and we will be reporting on the first four or five meetings we had. There will not be a final conclusion because we are only starting, but there will be key observations and points we have noted to date. We will try to incorporate as much as possible what has been said at the various meetings to date.

We will suspend while the guests arrive.