Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Apologies have been received from Senators David Norris and Michael Mullins, who are detained in the Seanad

I welcome members back after the summer recess and I look forward to completing a busy schedule until the EU Presidency. We will be very busy and will have more than weekly meetings from time to time. However, I am sure members are ready and willing to take new duties on board.

I welcome new members. Deputy Brendan Smith replaces Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl. Deputy Smith comes with a wealth of experience. As a former Minister for Agriculture I am sure he has a significant interest in development aid. The Deputy is the Fianna Fáil Party spokesperson on foreign affairs. I also welcome Deputy Olivia Mitchell, who is a member of the Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa, AWEPA, and also has a keen interest in foreign affairs. The Deputies are both welcome as members of the committee. They bring a wealth of parliamentary experience and I know they will enrich the proceedings of the committee. I wish Deputies Murphy and Ó Fearghaíl well and thank them for their contributions. I also welcome Deputy Seán Crowe, who has been appointed Sinn Féin spokesperson on foreign affairs. I know the Deputy is, technically, not a member of the committee and is substituting for Deputy Mac Lochlainn, who is in the Chamber where he has tabled questions to the Minister for Justice and Equality. I pay tribute to Deputy Mac Lochlainn for his contributions as Sinn Féin spokesperson on foreign affairs, which were always constructive. I am sure that Deputy Crowe, when he becomes a member of the committee next week, will do just as good a job as Deputy Mac Lochlainn and he is very welcome. His position will be formally endorsed by the Dáil in the coming days.

There have been major changes in the committee, although it is only a year old. As well as new members we have new officials in the secretariat and we are losing some officials. I welcome Ms Olive Hempenstall, who is the new foreign affairs adviser, replacing Ms Emer Deane. Ms Hempenstall also comes with a wealth of experience from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She has served overseas and recently in the press office of the Department. She is very welcome as adviser to the committee. I know her wealth of experience will help the committee in its work and that she will advise us on the best way forward. Mr. Daragh Gleeson is a new member of the secretariat. He has been assigned to the committee under the new staffing configuration. Unfortunately, we must say goodbye to Ms Franca Ghelfi, who has been with the committee for three years. She has joined the secretariat of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. I thank her sincerely. She made a valuable contribution to this and the previous committee. She and Ms Jullee Clarke, who is also leaving us, were the contact people for committee members and I thank them for all their hard work on the administrative side in contacting members and providing information to us. I thank them for their assistance to the committee in the past number of years and I wish them well in their new positions. On behalf of the committee, I welcome Ms Hempenstall and Mr. Gleeson and I thank Ms Ghelfi and Ms Clarke for their excellent work over the past number of years.

I remind members and those in the Gallery to ensure their mobile telephones are switched off completely for the duration of the meeting as they cause interference with the recording equipment, even when in silent mode. We have had problems with mobile telephones in the recent past so I hope everyone will observe this request. This is particularly necessary if we want proceedings of the meeting to be broadcast on "Oireachtas Report". The programme cannot broadcast proceedings if the sound is of poor quality.

The minutes of the meeting of 18 July have been circulated to members. I apologise for the amount of information they received.

It is several months since the previous meeting and there has been a good deal of correspondence in the interim. I am sure members have taken time to digest the information contained in the e-mails and documentation they have received. Are the draft minutes agreed? Agreed.