Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We are in public session. I remind members to switch off their mobile telephones and other technological equipment. This meeting has been convened to consider the Revised Estimate for Vote 33 - Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in detail and to question the Minister in that regard. A briefing on the 2015 Revised Estimates from the Department, along with a suggested list of questions from the committee secretariat, have been circulated to members. I hope that everybody has had an opportunity to study the briefing and will use it in our consideration of the Estimate, including whether the Department's output targets are expected to be achieved and, if not, why not. Is that agreed? Agreed.

I welcome the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Heather Humphreys, the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht with special responsibility for Gaeltacht affairs, Deputy Joe McHugh, and the Minister of State at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht with special responsibility for new communities, culture and equality, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. I also welcome all of the officials from the Department. I now invite the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to make her opening statement.