Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 28 March 2017

Select Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Estimates for Public Services 2017
Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised)

4:30 pm

Photo of Mary ButlerMary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I remind members, officials and those in the Visitors Gallery to, please, ensure their mobile phones are switched off for the duration of the meeting as they interfere with the broadcasting equipment, even when left in silent mode.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official, either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

The meeting has been convened to consider the Revised Estimate for Vote 32 - Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation - which was referred by the Dáil to the committee. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Mary Mitchell O'Connor, and the Ministers of State, Deputies Pat Breen and John Halligan, and their officials. I thank them for the briefing material provided which is being circulated to members. I also thank the Minister and her officials for the open and constructive dialogue with the committee secretariat's financial scrutiny team in the development of the briefing document for the meeting. I thank the financial scrutiny team for the development of the document for us. I understand the Department has adopted a positive and constructive approach for a number of years.

I inform the Minister and the Ministers of State that the committee has agreed to proceed programme by programme and will focus initially focus on specific subheads. I will refer to the briefing document prepared by the financial scrutiny team of the committee secretariat to guide our consideration of the Revised Estimate. We will start with programme A. I invite the Minister to make a short statement, giving a high-level overview of the programme, and ask her to be as concise as possible.

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