Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I was going to make that point in conclusion. I thank Professor Kilkelly for her most informative and excellent presentation. It is fitting that she will be our last witness for this committee. The quality of her presentation this morning has struck us all. If it is agreed by the committee, we will write to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform about the professor's remarks on flexibility in the appointment of staff. Is that agreed? Agreed.

We will write to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, to inform him of our deliberations this morning and to forward to him a copy of the transcript, which will also include the remarks on the staffing issue. During our visits to Oberstown, the committee was very impressed by the commitment of staff and I thank all the staff, the chief executive, Mr. Pat Bergin and the now chairperson, Professor Kilkelly, for the work they are doing. I wish them every success. The professor is right that we need to communicate more, from her end to ours and vice versa. I thank her for being here this morning.

As the committee has not scheduled any meeting for next week it is opportune for me to pay tribute to Deputy Neville, Senator van Turnhout and Deputy McLellan, who will certainly not be joining us in the next Oireachtas, whatever about the rest of us. I thank them for their courtesy, dedication and commitment to the committee and wish them well in whatever endeavours they undertake. To the committee members seeking re-election to the Seanad and Dáil, I wish them every success and thank them sincerely for their courtesy to me, their professionalism and their thorough work ethic and commitment to this committee. Finally, I thank the men and women of the committee secretariat who have been tremendous to us here and the men and women of, as Deputy Kelleher called it, the "dark room" for their tremendous work. They have had to endure mobile phones going off while listening to all of us but they have made our job here so much easier. I wish everybody every success.