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

We, as a committee, will follow up on the points raised. I got to see the presentation twice because I also attended the event in Carlow. Part of it was the local authority but a lot of it comes from the Department. The fact the group came in and made a presentation in a public forum gives us the power to look into the matter further. We have had an excellent meeting today and I believe this has been our best meeting of the year because it is great to engage directly with young people, and that is our remit on this committee. I say well done to the teachers for pursuing this project, sticking with it and being powerful advocates, which is an important element too. One does not always get such advocacy and it is very important.

This is our final meeting of the year so I thank all of the committee members. I also thank all of the staff of the committee who make everything happen, so much so that I simply show up and read lines, which makes my life very easy. I wish a very sincere thanks to everyone who does all of the hard work in the background. I thank all of the delegation for attending. I wish everybody a happy Christmas.

Finally, I need to get agreement to publish the opening statements on the Oireachtas website. Is that agreed? Agreed.