I do not think I will go. I will have other matters to attend to at the end of April.
The next item is a letter from Bank of Ireland on its pension strategy. We wrote to the bank some time ago on this matter. The IBOA was in contact with this organisation about the pension strategy in Bank of Ireland. We wrote to them and received a comprehensive response. I suggest members feel free to use the correspondence as they see fit. It is on the public record. I am sure the issue will be raised in several fora. We will note the reply.
The next item is a letter from the Department of Finance with advance notification on the extension of the freedom of information, FOI, programme. The matter of regulations to bring under the remit of the FOI programme, the Labour Court, the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner and vocational education committees will come before the committee shortly. I expect we will learn more, as it will come before the committee in due course. We will note the correspondence.
No. 07 is an e-mail from the clerk to the Joint Committee on European Affairs giving advance notice of the meeting between members of national parliaments and the economic and monetary affairs committee of the European Parliament. The meeting will be held from 28 February to 1 March. Are any committee members interested in attending? If no one present answers, I will ask the clerk to liaise with the Government and Opposition convenors and if members are interested we will put forward a travel proposal.
No. 08 is an acknowledgement from the Department of Education and Science on the Dyslexia Association of Ireland seeking an amendment to the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. We forwarded correspondence received to the Department of Education and Science. The finance Bill will come before the committee in February.
No. 09 is an e-mail regarding preserved retirement pensions for civil servants. As this involves Senator O'Toole and he is not present, I suggest we postpone this item of correspondence until the next meeting.
The next item is an e-mail to the clerk to the Joint Committee on European Affairs with an invitation to the third joint parliamentary party meeting in Brussels. Many meetings will take place in Brussels this season. I will ask the clerk to liaise with the two convenors to establish whether any members are interested in attending. If so, we will then get a travel proposal.
No. 11 is an e-mail from the FOI policy unit of the Department of Finance regarding FOI extension regulations. This is a second item of correspondence on the matter mentioned previously. The Department thought this would be done at the end of last year but it will be early 2007. We will note this.
No. 12 is an e-mail regarding a conference on EU taxes organised by the Institute of Austrian and International Tax Law of the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration from 5 to 7 July. Who is confident he or she will be a member of the committee on 5 July? The clerk will speak to the two convenors and any volunteers should let me know.
No. 13 is a suggested timetable for the finance Bill to go through the Oireachtas. It gives publication dates and dates for Second Stage and Committee Stage. I ask members to note the dates in their diaries. Committee Stage will be taken from 20 to 22 February. The periods between Second Stage, Committee Stage and Report Stage appear to be adequate to allow for amendments. On previous occasions the Stages were taken week after week and finishing a Stage on a Thursday meant we had no time to table amendments for the following week. There appears to be a reasonable break in that regard. I ask members to note this in their diaries.
I have not had an opportunity to study the large number of statutory instruments awaiting our consideration and nor, I think, have other members. They will be circulated to members in order that they can be discussed at our next meeting. Some may simply involve routine commencement dates, although others may be more substantive, but I am not in favour of noting something I have not seen.
The next item is No. 219, a letter dated 14 December from the clerk to the Joint Committee on European Affairs, Sub-Committee on European Scrutiny. I suggest we note the correspondence, which was referred to this committee for our information. We have a certain amount of scrutiny to conduct on EU matters, which we may complete in February.
Senator White wishes to raise correspondence which was not on today's agenda.
