Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everyone to the meeting of the Select Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration. Before we begin, I remind members who are participating to keep their devices on mute until they are invited to speak and when they are speaking, I would ask, where possible, that they would have their camera switched on and be mindful that we are in public session. In addition, I remind members of the constitutional requirements that members must be physically present within the confines of the place at which Parliament is choosing to sit, namely, Leinster House, in order to participate in public meetings and I will not permit a member to participate where he or she is not adhering to this constitutional requirement. Therefore, any member who attempts to participate at this meeting from outside the precincts will be refused.

The Dáil, on 16 December 2020, ordered that the Revised Estimates for public services in respect of the following Votes be referred to this committee for consideration: Vote 40, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth; and Vote 25 - Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. Today's meeting of the select committee will consider these Estimates and report back to the Dáil. I remind members that only matters relevant to the Revised Estimates for 2021 can be discussed at this meeting.

On behalf of the select committee, I welcome the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and his officials here today and thank them for the comprehensive briefing material provided, and advise that this material has been circulated to members in advance of the meeting. The officials from the Department accompanying the Minister are: Mr. Dermot Ryan, assistant secretary; Ms Laura McGarrigle, assistant secretary; Mr. Conor Rowley, assistant secretary; and Ms Carol Baxter, assistant secretary.

The proposed format of today's meeting is to invite the Minister to brief the committee on Votes 40 and 25 and we will then open to questions from members of the committee. I will call on members in the order that they have indicated. We are not under too much time pressure today and we can allow between seven and ten minutes from each member. If members want to indicate at any point, I would welcome that.

I invite the Minister to make his opening statement to the committee. Can the Minister hear me okay? I want to check the sound in the remote room where the Minister and the officials are. I am not sure we can be heard. I will suspend the meeting for a minute or two while we figure out the technical issues.