COMMITTEE OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS díospóireacht -
Thursday, 14 Jun 2012

Business of Committee

Chairman

Are the minutes of the meeting of 7 June agreed to? Agreed. On matters arising from the minutes, a sub-group met yesterday to finalise a draft report on the banking inquiry and will meet again next Tuesday to formally sign off on it. Subject to its work being completed, the draft report will be circulated to all members after the meeting. Members will have it for a number of days to consider it. It is proposed that a full meeting of the committee will take place on Tuesday, 26 June to consider it and that thereafter we will publish it, possibly after the meeting of the committee on 28 June. That gives members the time they requested to consider the report in its entirety. Is that agreed? Agreed.

Item No. 3 is correspondence. Item No. 3A lists the replies from Accounting Officers. Item No. 3A.1 is correspondence dated 30 May 2012 from Mr. Fred Barry, chief executive of the National Roads Authority, in which he provides the information requested at the meeting of 10 May. The correspondence is to be noted and published.

Item No. 3A.2 is correspondence dated 1 June 2012 from Mr. Tom O'Mahony, Secretary General, Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, in which he provides the information requested at the meeting of 10 May. The correspondence is to be noted and published.

Item No. 3A.3 is correspondence dated 12 June 2012 from Ms Geraldine Tallon, Secretary General, Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, in which she provides additional information on the land aggregation scheme, as previously requested by the committee. The correspondence is to be noted and published.

Deputy Sean Fleming

The Secretary General, Ms Tallon, states there are a number of sites and that the interest figure for the amount redeemed by the Department is not available. Therefore, how did they settle on the price, if the interest accruable on the site is not known? I will probably let the matter go but I would have expected a straight answer to a simple question.

Chairman

Does the Deputy wish to take some time to look at the correspondence and then revert to the committee?

Deputy Sean Fleming

Yes, but I would like to have item No. 3A.3 held over.

Chairman

Yes, we will hold it over, but we can note and publish it. The Deputy will have an opportunity to raise it again at an appropriate time.

Item No. 3B is correspondence alleging waste of public funds. Item No. 3B.1 is correspondence dated 28 May 2012 from Mr. Tomás Ó Maonaile on the alleged misuse of public moneys in Meath County Council. This correspondence is to be noted and a copy is to be forwarded to the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the director of audit at the Local Government Audit Service for a note on the issues raised. The problem is that local government is outside our remit.

Iterm No. 3B.2 is correspondence dated 30 May 2012 from Mr. John Moriarty, Dublin Waterworld Limited, on the National Aquatic Centre. This correspondence is to be noted. The committee has dealt with this issue in the context of the report.

Item No. 3B.3 is correspondence dated 30 May 2012 from Deputy Michael McCarthy on Clonakilty Gaelscoil. The correspondence is to be noted and the Department of Education and Skills is to provide a note on the matter.

I will now deal with individual complaints. I will take the three items from Mr. William Treacy, Portlaoise, together, as Deputy Fleming may wish to speak on these issues. The first is correspondence dated 17 May 2012, consideration of which was deferred from the meeting on 7 June. The correspondence dated 22 May is from Deputy Sean Fleming, consideration of which was also deferred. The third item is correspondence from Mr. Treacy concerning the Turf Club and Horse Racing Ireland, consideration of which was deferred from the meeting of 7 June.

Deputy Sean Fleming

I submitted a letter seeking information and was not happy with one of the responses on what appeared to be a small point. The Turf Club stated it had investigated the matter in question. It referred consistently to the horse in question by the wrong name. I do not accept it was just a typographical error. Perhaps calling the horse by a different name during the years in question was such an error, but it is a question of a horse of a different colour. That is all I will say about the matter. My point is that if what occurred is an example of how the Turf Club has been dealing with this issue, in view of the fact that it receives so much public money, it is shabby, to say the very least and there are legitimate grounds for complaint.

In my correspondence I am asking that we obtain the relevant file from the Turf Club on the issue in question, including the incident at Down Royal racecourse. There are letters from the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland that should be in the Horse Racing Ireland and Turf Club files. I refer also to letters from State bodies such as the Health and Safety Authority on these specific issues. The committee has been treated shabbily in that the correspondence we have received does not even deal with the name of the horse in respect of which we have been making inquiries. This sounds trivial in general, but the body receives a lot of public money. Therefore, the least it could do is be accurate in what it is stating. I want to see the file.

Chairman

Is the Deputy suggesting we raise the matter with Horse Racing Ireland and the Turf Club?

Deputy Sean Fleming

Yes. We want a copy of the file on these complaints. When we receive it, we will judge the matter accordingly.

Chairman

Is that agreed? Agreed.

Item No. 3C.4 is correspondence dated 30 May 2012 regarding Mr. John Kinsella from Mr. Edmond J. Hickey, managing director of Family Homes of Ireland. The correspondence is to be noted. It is ongoing and the resolution of the complaint does not fall directly within the remit of the committee. Issues relating to the local authority are outside our remit and the closure of a regional tourism office is a policy matter that is also outside its remit. I will ask the clerk to write to Mr. Kinsella outlining our role and explaining the position.

Item No. 3C.5 is correspondence dated 19 May 2012 from Mr. Oliver McAvinia of Oliver McAvinia Limited on the pigmeat recall scheme. The correspondence is to be noted. Entitlement to compensation is primarily a matter between the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the individual concerned. We have dealt with a number of these matters and asked the Department for a note on how the company can be compensated for its losses arising from the recall of pigmeat. Members will note that at the meeting to discuss the dioxin issue the report was not fully dealt with and that we did not sign off on it. Issues such as this and the other outstanding matters can be dealt with by the Accounting Officer when he returns.

Item No. 3D concerns documents related to today's meeting. I refer to correspondence received on 11 June from Ms Loretta Lambkin, chief executive of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority, regarding a briefing paper on matters to be considered at the meeting today. The correspondence is to be noted and published. Correspondence received on 12 June from the chief executive will comprise her opening statement. It is to be noted and published.

Let us consider reports, statements and accounts received since the meeting of 7 June. Item No. 4.1 is the annual report of FÁS. Item No. 4.2 is the financial statements of the Royal Irish Academy of Music for the year ended 31 December 2010. Item No. 4.3 is the financial statements of Trinity College Dublin for the year ended 30 December 2010. These are all to be noted.

Deputy Sean Fleming

Some weeks ago - I forget how many - the chairperson of the Office of Public Works was present and we were talking about rental property. We referred to rents and the fact that some of the properties were vacant. I asked about one or two specific properties. All I am saying is we have not yet received the reply.

Chairman

I am told we are to receive a reply tomorrow. It is in the system.

On the work programme, it is likely that we will have a separate meeting with the Accounting Officer of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government on the Dublin Docklands Development Authority on 12 July. We will agree to that change next week on the basis of what arises from our meeting today. With regard to the work programme and how meetings are conducted, members may raise matters directly with the clerk. They may also raise them under this heading. The work programme is generally agreed to in the context of the table presented to us every Thursday morning which I would like members to note.

Since there is no other business, I ask that members agree to the agenda for Thursday, 21 June: annual report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriate Accounts: Vote 38 - Department of Social Protection; chapter 33 - welfare and employment schemes; chapter 34 - welfare overpayments; chapter 35 - regularity of social welfare payments; chapter 36 - control measures at scheme level; chapter 37 - information driven controls; chapter 38 - measuring review outcomes; chapter 39 - bank and An Post reconciliation; and chapter 40 - rural social scheme. Is that agreed? Agreed.