John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The next item on the agenda is engagement on the Ministers and Secretaries Act 1924 with representatives from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. We are joined by Mr. David Moloney, Ms Ciara Morgan and Mr. John Howlin. We will begin with an opening statement but before we do that, I have a little local matter to attend to.

We are joined in the Public Gallery by Pippa Gault, Ellen Gault and Eleanor Cleary. An in-house magazine was produced by their school for which I was interviewed. I have a copy here. It was a nice little publication by the school for which they went around and got the backgrounds of their Teachtaí Dála. They were anxious to come here today to see the Oireachtas and how we function, which is a great thing for the school. They are now attending the Model School and Kilkenny College. They will be going on a tour of the Seanad and Dáil afterwards, which I hope they will enjoy. I thank them for coming along today to see democracy in action and to see our Oireachtas members working. I acknowledge the very fine work they did in their magazine. They are very welcome.

We will move on to the opening statement. See the important things in life?