James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the place that the Parliament has chosen to sit, namely, Leinster House, in order to participate in public meetings. I believe we are all well aware of that at this stage, but I wanted to reiterate it at the outset. Unfortunately, the rules do not permit members to participate if they are outside Leinster House according to the advice given to the Oireachtas.

Before we begin, I will take us through some housekeeping matters. I ask members to mute themselves when they are not contributing so that we do not have background noise or feedback. If they use the raise hand button, it will probably be the best approach. The clerk to the committee and I will try our best to ensure that everyone's hand is noted when it is raised and that we get to everyone. If we miss members, I am sure they will make themselves known to me anyway. I remind members to ensure that their mobile phones are either on silent mode or turned off so as not to interfere.

This meeting has been convened to consider the Revised Estimates for public services for the Department of Justice's Votes 20, 21, 22, 24, 41 and 44. Documents with breakdowns have been circulated. We will interrogate them further in the course of the meeting.

I am pleased to welcome the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and her officials. I thank them for the briefing document that was sent to us ahead of the meeting. As she is present, we will engage with her rather than her officials. They can advise her and so forth, but they should not speak while we are in public session. She can speak for all.

Speaking of the Minister speaking, I believe she has a few words to address us with at the outset of the meeting.