Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everybody to the meeting. We are looking at the Further Revised Estimates for Vote 16 - Tailte Éireann, Vote 23 - Electoral Commission and Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I welcome the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Ministers of State, Deputies Noonan and O'Donnell. I congratulate Deputy O'Donnell on his appointment as Minister of State with responsibility for local government and planning. I look forward to further engagement with him here in the committee. At this point, I will also acknowledge the contribution the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, made to the committee in the time he served in that position. I thank the Ministers for the briefing material provided, which has been circulated to the members of the committee. This meeting has been convened to discuss the Further Revised Estimates I have mentioned, those for Votes 16, 23 and 34. While the committee has no role in actually approving the Estimates, there is an opportunity for the committee to make the process more transparent and to engage in a meaningful way on relevant performance issues. I propose to proceed by asking the Ministers to give us their opening statements - it would be helpful if they could be kept to about five minutes each - and to then invite in members to discuss various aspects of the Further Revised Estimates.