Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The item on the agenda today is the Revised Estimates for Public Services - Department of Rural and Community Development. The Dáil has ordered that the Revised Estimates for Public Services in respect of the following Vote be referred to this select committee for consideration - Vote 42 - Rural and Community Development.

On behalf of the select committee, I welcome the Minister for Social Protection, Rural and Community Development, Deputy Heather Humphreys, the Minister of State, Deputy Joe O'Brien, and their officials to the meeting. Members will have received the Estimates briefing document provided by the Department and the supplementary briefing from the secretariat that was circulated in advance of the meeting. The purpose of today's meeting is to consider the Revised Estimates, and the performance information regarding the output and input impacts of programme expenditure. The programme-based structure of the Estimates should allow the committee: to focus on what the Department has committed to achieving in terms of actual outputs and outcomes; to consider whether the performance targets included in the Estimates are a sufficiently complete description of the services provided by the Department, and whether those targets strike the right balance in respect of the needs of society; and to consider whether the information provided by the Department makes clear how the moneys available are allocated between services and whether these allocations are the most appropriate in the circumstances. I now invite the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, to make her opening statement.