Michael McCarthy (Cork South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I wish to thank the members of the committee for my appointment. I look forward to the role. In particular, I thank Deputy Coonan for his very warm comments. I am deeply honoured to be Chairman of this committee and I look forward to working with each and every member of the committee. I want to pay special tribute to the outgoing Chairman, Deputy Ciarán Lynch, for the very hard work he undertook while Chair of this committee. He gave the committee a great profile in his role. He worked very diligently and in conjunction with colleagues from all sides. I hope that I as Chairman can work in conjunction with colleagues to facilitate the continuation of that good work.

I have been briefed by Deputy Ciarán Lynch and by the clerk to the committee and I know a number of outstanding issues are being pursued. These include the local authorities and the arts, the historic buildings on Moore Street, the title of architect and the issue of pyrite in houses. We also have to deal with the work of the Dáil select sub-committees in regard to the Estimates and legislation. In this regard, the forthcoming climate change Bill will be a major challenge to each and every one of us. Given the pre-legislative and pre-budget scrutiny required, this may involve the entire joint committee.

Next year, 2013, will be a particularly busy one for us given Ireland's Presidency of the European Union, which will run from January to June. I note the programme for this, including the involvement of this committee, is being prepared at present and I look forward to coming back to the committee with the relevant information in the coming weeks.