John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Is that all right? Agreed. No. 3B. 2 is correspondence dated 10 May 2013, from the office of the Secretary General of the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government re information previously requested regarding flooding in Ballinasloe, County Galway. It is to be noted. The correspondence has been forwarded to the OPW for a note on the matter.

No. 3B.3 is correspondence dated 11 May 2013, from Mr. Matthew Merrigan re the committee’s examination of special report No. 80 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the administration of national health and local authority levy fund. It is to be noted. Mr. Merrigan is claiming that he cannot give evidence as the subject matter of the committee's examination is also being examined by the Garda. The clerk has been in contact with the HSE who did refer the matter to the Garda when it became clear that public moneys paid to SIPTU were claimed by the union not to have been lodged in an official account. We now know a lot more about the payment and use of this public money and we should ask the HSE to review the complaint it made to the Garda so as to enable the Garda to make a decision on whether to continue its investigation. I am anxious that we hear the evidence from Mr. Merrigan. Any issue that we will deal with will not overlap with a Garda investigation. The Garda was examining the possibility of fraud and we need to get the evidence directly from Mr. Merrigan. I will ask the clerk to check with the HSE. We will pursue the matter that way and move towards insisting on Mr. Merrigan appearing as a witness before the committee. Is that agreed? Agreed.

No. 3B.4 is correspondence dated 14 May 2013, from Mr. Lar Bradshaw, former chairman of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority re the committee’s examination of special report No. 77 of the Comptroller and Auditor General on the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. It is to be noted. Mr. Bradshaw has indicated a willingness to help the committee and we will facilitate him. We might, because of scheduling, have to hold a special meeting on Wednesday 19 June or Wednesday 26 June in order to deal with the matter. We will try to accommodate Mr. Bradshaw. We issued other invitations to the various persons concerned. I understand Mr. Bradshaw was the only one to indicate his willingness to co-operate. None of the others have replied as yet.