Are the minutes of the meeting of 9 February 2012 agreed? Agreed. Are there any matters arising?
Business of Committee
On the Health Service Executive, HSE, as it turned out, the chief executive officer came back to me after last week's meeting and facilitated the type of meeting to which he committed. It was very helpful and useful to everyone concerned. I want to record my thanks to him.
I do not see it in the minutes but when Kieran Coughlan, Secretary General of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, was in here I asked if there were fire certificates for the Leinster House complex. He led us clearly to understand that he thought there were. Now, I understand there are not. He gave us a letter subsequently which stated it is a matter for the Office of Public works and it would confirm the matter. We have not got a comprehensive response to the fire certificate issue.
Kieran Coughlan's staff work in this building and he has a duty to them in regard to fire regulations. To say it is the business of the Office of Public Works as it is the landlord is not fair as Kieran Coughlan is the employer. I do not mind who gives me the answer-----
We will follow it up.
We should get the answer to this. It is an exempted building and they say it is a high standard. However, the fire officer is not saying that. There is no independent verification of the fire certificate status of Leinster House.
We will pursue it.
We just need to get a response to close it off.
There are two other matters. We were to write to the Department of Finance regarding the report on the €3.6 billion accounting information error. We still have not received the report. Maybe we should send the Department a reminder.
The HSE stated it would provide the committee with a report on how it would better streamline the primary care reimbursement service - the medical card office.
It is getting worse.
Absolutely.
When we raised it here, we were promised a report and action on it. Unless we pursue it like Deputy Deasy did with his meeting with the HSE chief executive officer, we will get nothing. It will have to be raised again. It is a scandal what is going on with the medical cards. We need to raise it again on the basis the HSE promised us a report. We should deal with it as a matter of urgency. Maybe today, I will make a telephone call.
No. 3 is correspondence received since meeting of Thursday, 9 February, 2012. No. 3.1, correspondence, received 8 February 2012, from Mr. Tom O'Mahony, Secretary General, Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, forwarding a briefing paper on matters to be considered at the meeting of 16 February 2012, as previously requested by the committee. It will be noted and published.
No. 3.2, correspondence, dated 7 February 2012, from Mr. Martin Moore, Martin Moore & Company, Tralee, County Kerry, regarding correspondence previously forwarded by the committee to the Office of the Revenue Commissioners. It will be forwarded to the Office of the Revenue Commissioners for information.
No. 3.3, correspondence, dated 7 February 2012, from Senator Fidelma Healy Eames, regarding Bank of Ireland. It will be noted and published. Bank of Ireland is outside the committee's remit but this correspondence will be forwarded to the Accounting Officer of the Department of Finance for information with a note on the matter. The Senator will be informed accordingly.
No. 3.4, correspondence, dated 9 February 2012, from Mr. Ray Mitchell, assistant national director parliamentary and regulatory affairs, Health Service Executive, regarding matters raised by Deputy Deasy at the meeting of 9 February 2012. It will be noted and published.
No. 3.5 is correspondence, dated 13 February 2012, from Mr. Tom O'Mahony, Secretary General, Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, regarding CSID and Dublin Waterworld and the breakdown of fees for Executive Services. It will be noted and published. Members may wish to refer to this correspondence during the debate this morning.
No. 3.6, correspondence, dated 13 February 2012, from Mr. Bev Cotton, Clonakilty, County Cork, regarding Youthreach, Macroom. It will be noted. The committee requested that the Comptroller and Auditor General examine this issue. The committee will forward this correspondence to his office and to the Department of Education and Skills for information.
No. 3.7, correspondence, dated 11 February 2012, from Mr. Hugh Rance, Bantry, County Cork, regarding County Cork VEC. It will be noted and the correspondence forwarded to the Department of Education and Skills and to the Comptroller and Auditor General.
No. 3.8, correspondence, dated 13 February 2012, from Ms Anne Marie Caulfield, director, Private Residential Tenancies Board, regarding response to correspondence forwarded by the committee from Mr. Thomas Woodbyrne. It will be noted. A copy of the correspondence will be forwarded to Mr. Woodbyrne.
No. 3.9, correspondence, received 14 February 2012, from Mr. Tom O'Mahony, Secretary General, Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, regarding his opening statement. It will be noted and published.
No. 3.10, correspondence, dated 14 February 2012, from Mr. Dermot B. Quigley, Commissioner of Valuation, regarding response to correspondence forwarded by the committee from Mr. John Moriarty. It will be noted and published. Members may wish to refer to this correspondence during today's examination.
No. 3.11, correspondence, dated 14 February 2012, from Mr. Matt Merrigan and Mr. Jack Kelly, SIPTU, regarding Skill programme. It will be noted and published. As this matter is now being examined by the Comptroller and Auditor General, I would ask that Mr. Merrigan and Mr. Kelly co-operate fully with his forthcoming examination.
No. 3.12, correspondence, dated 15 February 2012, from Ms. Sinéad Quinn, clerk, Joint Committee on Environment, Transport, Culture and the Gaeltacht, regarding correspondence forwarded by the Committee of Public Accounts from Ms Geraldine Gough regarding the abolition of the No. 19 bus route in Glasnevin, Dublin. It will be noted and published.
No. 3.13, correspondence, dated 9 February 2012, from Mr. Jonathan Irwin, director, Dublin International Arena Limited, DIAL, regarding settlement case between DIAL and Campus Stadium Ireland Development Limited. It will be noted and published.
No. 4, reports, statements and accounts received since meeting of 9 February 2012. No. 4.1, Dublin City University, DCU consolidated financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2008; No. 4.2, Dublin City University, consolidated financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2009; No. 4.3, Royal Irish Academy, report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2010; No. 4.4, County Laois VEC, annual financial statement for the year ended 31 December 2010; No. 4.5, County Louth VEC, annual financial statement for the year ended 31 December 2010; No. 4.6, County Mayo VEC, annual financial statement for the year ended 31 December 2010; No. 4.7, County Tipperary North Riding VEC, annual financial statement for the year ended 31 December 2010. This will be noted. It should be noted the DCU statements for 2008 and 2009 are only now being formally submitted.
Mr. John Buckley
In special report No. 75, we dealt with the general backlog which covered several years. Most of the universities have been brought up to date but there has been a delay with DCU. We cleared two of them in 2010 and two further ones in 2011. We are now on the 2010 statements and the fieldwork is under way. Hopefully, we will bring them all up to date in a reasonable time. In the next several weeks, the office will publish a follow-up on the universities report which will cover the general position with regard to the production of accounts and will explain it in more detail.
We should factor the VECs and other education institutes into our work programme. This would mean that regularly we could go through different VECs, particularly ones about which we received information or complaints. This would ensure we reach as far as we can into the education sector.
The clerk is preparing a submission for the reform of the Committee of Public Accounts. I am also completing a Private Members' Bill on it which we should have next week.
Will this address the committee's role local vis-à-vis local authorities?
Yes. Several views have been expressed on reforming the committee. The clerk is preparing a document on that for the committee's consideration.
Is this a follow-up to the discussion we had at the start of our meeting last week?
Yes.
Work is ongoing on the financial collapse inquiry. The reports have been examined and there is now a single document. The legal advisers are examining that document with regard to options the committee may have. I hope we can arrange a meeting for next week where we can look at that body of work, decide what the next step might be and report back to the committee. I say this by way of bringing members up to date on different issues. The work programme, as it stands, is noted. We will include that other work in it.
Does any member wish to raise another matter? If not, can we agree the agenda for 23 February 2012, which is the 2010 annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and appropriation accounts, Vote 10 - Office of Public Works, and chapter 9 - public procurement? Is that agreed? Agreed.
Chairman, could you put the Office of Public Works, OPW, on notice regarding the matter of the fire services, which I mentioned earlier?
Yes. I mentioned earlier to Deputy Nolan, who raised questions about property of the Department of Justice and Equality, including Garda barracks and so on, that all of that comes under the remit of the OPW. There may be questions relating to the OPW that were either half answered or unanswered at previous meetings. Deputy Fleming mentioned the fire services. All of that can be discussed next week. We are now ready to call the witnesses.