Michael Lowry (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We are in public session. I advise everyone here, including those in the Gallery, to turn off their mobile phones.

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 House or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

This meeting has been convened to consider the Further Revised Estimate for Vote 29 - Communications, Climate Action and Environment, referred by order of the Dáil on 20 February 2019 to the committee. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Bruton, and his officials. I thank the officials at the Department for providing with the briefing material that has been circulated to committee members. I inform the Minister that the committee has agreed to proceed programme by programme. At the outset of consideration of each programme, I will ask the Minister to give a high-level overview of the programme, including the pressures likely to impact on the Department's performance and related expenditure for each programme in 2019. Members will then be invited to put their questions on a particular subhead in the programme. I will refer to the briefing document prepared by the Department to guide our consideration of the Revised Estimate.

Deputies Naughton, Lawless and Eamon Ryan are meeting with the chief executive of Facebook and will join us later. We will commence with programme A on communications, which members will find between pages 12 and 17 in the briefing document. I invite the Minister to make a statement.