Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I understand the Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, will have to leave at 11.30 a.m. and ask members to note this when asking questions. I welcome the Minister and his officials. He has agreed to attend to brief the committee on the pre-budget situation in education and fulfil the commitment made in the programme for Government to the effect that Oireachtas committees will engage with Ministers as part of a whole-of-year approach to the scrutiny of the annual Estimates for departmental spending. The Minister will be familiar with the privilege provisions. He should be conscious of the long-standing parliamentary practice in that regard. I ask him to begin his presentation.