Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everyone to this first meeting of the committee in the new Dáil term. I hope everybody had a good break. No apologies have been received. The Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. McCarthy, is here as a permanent witness to the committee. Members participating remotely must do so from within the precincts of Leinster House due to the constitutional requirement that, in order to participate in public meetings, members must be physically present in the confines of the place where Parliament has chosen to sit. The public business before us this morning is as follows: minutes, accounts, financial statements, correspondence, work programme and any other business. Before I turn to that business, we will go into private session to deal with some housekeeping matters before resuming in public session. Is that agreed? Agreed. We do not have witnesses this morning so we will not be keeping anyone waiting.