Let us get the reply from the Department of Finance on its dealings with the sheriff. Is that agreed? Agreed.
The following items will be noted: European world newsletter, the European urban network knowledge; an 18 month programme for the future Spanish-Belgian-Hungarian Presidency of the EU; ministerial press release on the spending of €2.3 billion in the Department; press release on the establishment of a review group on cost-base expenditure on numbers employed in local authorities; and a request by Deputy Noel O'Flynn to hold a meeting about the recent flooding in Cork with the ESB and city and county councils to review their emergency plans.
I propose that the first meeting in January will deal with the flooding issue, and we shall include this in that meeting. The next item is a reply to a letter dated 22 September, where we requested the Minister to put a system in place whereby his Department is automatically notified of all central government notices issuing to the local government authority sector, and this reply is unsatisfactory. We have a system in place with the Department to the effect that a copy of all statutory instruments circulated to local authorities should be copied to the committee, and that is happening. However, we discovered last year that other Departments such as the Department of Transport were also issuing circulars to local authorities, and we asked the Department to ensure we got copies of all these and to introduce a system whereby it would get copies of material being circulated to local authorities. It transpired the Department did not even know what was going to their own local authorities, so we suggested it might be worth while putting such a system in place and giving us copies. The Minister has replied saying he has requested the Department to write to all other Departments to highlight the issue, and inviting them all to write back to the committee. That is nonsense. The onus is on the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to be aware of all circulars issuing to local authorities and we want a copy. That is the Civil Service gone utterly mad. A letter is sent to 15 Departments and it is forgotten whether it happens or not. They will forget about it and staff will change.
We shall write back to the Minister saying that we want him to implement what we requested in the first place.
The next item is circular FYI- DAU 1/09, submission of development plans, local area plans, variations and material amendments to both and associated draft plans to the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government.