Minutes of proceedings of the eighteenth meeting of the Public Accounts Committee held in Room 152, Parliament Buildings on Tuesday 6th February 2001
Present: Mr B Bell (Chairman)
Mr R Beggs
Mr Mervyn Carrick
Mr S Close
Mr D McClelland
Apologies Mrs P Armitage
Mr D Hilditch
Ms S Ramsey
In Attendance: Mr M Rickard (Committee Clerk)
Mr J Campbell (Assistant Committee Clerk)
Miss L Tracey
1. Introduction
The Chairman commenced proceedings by welcoming Mr. Dowdall, the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), and his staff to the meeting. He then proceeded to outline the objectives of the meeting as:
(i) To agree draft report on Control of River Pollution
(ii)To discuss the Evidence Session of 24.01.01 on Grants to the Irish Sport Horse Genetic Testing Unit Ltd (HC 396) and DARD Suspected Frauds (NIA6 & NIA 29/00)
(iii)To provide members with details of the arrangements for the visit to PAC Dublin
Following this introduction, the Chairman turned to the order of business.
2. Apologies
Apologies were received from Mrs P Armitage, Mr D Hilditch and Ms Sue Ramsey
3. PAC Report on the Control of River Pollution in Northern Ireland
Mr John Dowdall, Comptroller and Auditor General, was further examined.
The Committee deliberated.
Draft Report (The Control of River Pollution in Northern Ireland), proposed by the Chairman, brought up and read.
Ordered, That the draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.
Para 1 to 3 read and agreed to.
Para 4 postponed Para 5 to 17 read and agreed to Para 18 read and agreed subject to update of departmental position Para 19 to 27 read and agreed to Para 28 read and agreed subject to amendment. Para 29 to 33 read and agreed to. Para 34 read and agreed subject to update of departmental position Para 35 to 46 read and agreed to Para 4 read and agreed subject to changes to be made to reflect amendments agreed in paras 4-46.
4. Evidence Session of 24 January 2001
It was explained that it had been previously agreed that following each evidence session, there would be an opportunity for members to highlight the main issues for inclusion in the Committee's Report. However, since there was insufficient time at the end of the session of 24 January 2001, members were given the opportunity to express their views.
5. Visit to PAC in Dublin
The Clerk reported that arrangements had been finalised for the Committee's visit to Dublin on 7th - 8th February 2001. The plans are to travel to Dublin on the 4.10 pm Enterprise from Central Station, and to attend a dinner that evening with members from the PAC (RoI) in the Dáil Members Dining Room. The overnight stay will be in Jury's Ballsbridge Hotel. In the morning, the members will attend part of the morning session in the Dáil in the Distinguished Guests Gallery where they will be officially welcomed by the Speaker. At 11:00am, they will attend a PAC hearing. At 1:30pm a lunch will be hosted for PAC (RoI) in Buswell's Hotel. The Committee will return to Belfast on the 4.50pm Enterprise.
Members were issued with the latest itinerary for the Committee's visit to PAC in Dublin.
6. Next Meeting
The next meeting is to held at 10.30am on Wednesday 14th February in Room 152 Parliament Buildings for a briefing session on Health and Personal Social Services - Executive Directors' and Senior Managers' Pay (HC 396) & Executive Directors' Contracts and Termination Settlements (NIA 1/00).
The meeting was then drawn to a close at 10:50am
William B Bell
Committee Chairman
14 February 2001
