Apologies have been received from Deputy Cuffe.
The first item on the agenda concerns the minutes of the meeting on 18 November which have been circulated. Are they agreed? Agreed.
The next item is correspondence. The first item of correspondence is No. 277, a report of the 2008 annual session of the parliamentary conference on the World Trade Organisation sent by the Joint Committee on Enterprise Trade and Employment. I propose that we note the report. Is that agreed? Agreed.
No. 278 is a submission by a northside organisation called CROSSCARE on access to local authority housing. As we will obviously discuss the issue of local authority housing during the course of our work programme for the coming year, I propose that we hold the correspondence for consideration at that point. Is that agreed? Agreed.
No. 279 is a newsletter from GLOBE on environmental policy. We will note the newsletter. No. 280 is a summary sheet from the water policy summit in Brussels, which was attended by Deputies Bannon and Hogan on 5 November. Is it agreed that we will note the correspondence? Agreed. No. 281 is newsletter No. 29 on European water partnership. We will note the newsletter.
No. 282 is correspondence from the Secretary General of the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government indicating the sections of the Local Government Acts which address the role and tenure of county and city managers and audit committees. We asked for this information in regard to the authority of county managers and audit committees. We can note the correspondence.
The next item is a letter from the Irish Direct Marketing Association regarding the report we produced on the register of electors which seeks to make a presentation to the committee. I suggest that we hold this matter over. I have not had time to study the matter and I do not know whether we will progress our report any further. We issued the report and it is up to the Department to respond to it. If members are familiar with the matter they should feel free to make a comment but otherwise I will return to the matter at our next meeting.
The next item is further correspondence from the Secretary General of the Department regarding dispute resolution procedures and risk assessment in local authority contracts, in other words, the guidelines book. We specifically requested this information when the Secretary General attended the committee to address contract disputes and termination difficulties. It is a comprehensive document. Do members wish to comment now or would they prefer an opportunity to consider the matter before discussing it at our next meeting? I propose that we hold the correspondence until our next meeting. We may end up merely noting it but at least members will be up to speed.
The next item on the agenda is the Mayo county development plan. We have held extensive discussions with officials from the Department and elected representatives from Mayo County Council. We gave our commitment that we will produce a report on the matter but before we put pen to paper, I want to hear members' observations.
