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

The select committee is in public session. I welcome the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, the Minister of State with responsibility for skills, research and innovation, Deputy Damien English, and the Department officials. We are here to consider the 2015 Revised Estimates for Public Services at the Department of Education and Skills - Vote 26. The timetable for the meeting has been circulated. It allows for a very brief opening statement by the Minister followed by a discussion of each programme listed in the Estimate with 20 minutes allocated for the discussion of each programme. Is the timetable agreed? Agreed. I invite the Minister to make her opening statement and ask her to try to keep it under the ten minutes allocated, if possible.