I remind members to ensure their mobile phones are switched off. This is important because they cause serious problems for broadcasting, editorial and sound staff.

I wrote to the Chairman yesterday with a proposal that we invite representatives from the Central Bank to appear before the committee. The Central Bank has published an internal audit report in respect of lack of compliance with State guidelines for public bodies. The report makes for very poor reading on the part of the bank and raises matters of very great concern. I spoke to the Governor of the Central Bank late last week with a view to inviting him to come before the Committee of Public Accounts, PAC. However, issues around remit have arisen in respect of the PAC so I believe this is the appropriate committee to invite representatives from the Central Bank to appear before.

There are other issues associated with these matters relating to allegations being made by a whistleblower and claims that raise concerns about the treatment of that whistleblower in the course of the process. I am not proposing that the committee deal with those matters but the report, which was published last week, is extremely worrying and merits a very early appearance by representatives from the Central Bank. The Governor informed me late last week that he had an open mind about going before the PAC. I took him at his word but it now seems the committee is not in a position to advance that invitation so I think it should come from this committee as quickly as possible. That might not happen before the Christmas break but, nonetheless, I think we should invite representatives from the bank to appear here early in January. Will the Acting Chairman take up that proposal and advance it after this meeting?

The clerk will try to identify a date, more than likely in early January.