Apologies have been received from Deputy Eamon Scanlon. The minutes of the meeting of 25 November have been circulated. Are they agreed? Agreed.
The next item is correspondence received since the last meeting of the committee. The first item is No. 674 on the annual spring seminar to be held in Sligo on 12 and 13 February 2010 — the local government conference of the AMAI. Are members interested in attending? At this stage we will agree, in principle, to send a delegation and ask the Government and Opposition convenors to contact the clerk on who may be interested in attending. We will then put together a travel proposal.
The next item is No. 675, the newsletter of GLOBE International, which we will note. No. 676 is the newsletter of Europe's World, which we will also note. No. 677 is a ministerial press release on the address made at the International Forum on Energy Efficiency in the Housing Sector. We will note the correspondence.
The next item is a document from the parliamentary legal adviser concerning the legal advice on the powers of a committee in the case of public inquiries. I suggest we hold over that item for consideration until the next meeting. I have not had an opportunity to consider it and it is an important item. Next is No. 679 — an article on the Taoiseach's preference regarding not giving committees a role in overseeing appointments to State boards. This is a newspaper article sent to us by Public Affairs Ireland which we note. No. 680 is an invitation to an evening hosted by the ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Members may reply privately if they wish to attend. No. 681 is a ministerial press release on the newly-launched guidelines for local authorities regarding planning and flood risk management. It includes a circular letter on flood assessment which most of us received yesterday. We shall consider that in the context of this meeting. There will be relevance for local authorities in the future. Circulars issued to local authorities since the last meeting include: document No. SHIP/2009/06, a commencement order in respect of housing; No. 7 on legislative changes relating to anti-social behaviour and social housing; and PH1009, a commencement order on standards for rented houses, amendment regulations 2009. We note those. That concludes correspondence.