Ciarán Lynch (Cork South Central, Labour)
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I now call the meeting to order as we have a quorum. Apologies have been received from Deputy Pearse Doherty. Given the date, I will be quoting Marx but it will be Groucho Marx on this occasion and given that my birthday is next month, I will probably refer the comments to myself but as Groucho Marx once said, when the candles cost more than the cake, it is time to stop counting. On behalf of the committee, I wish the Minister a happy birthday.

We now move on to consideration of the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2013 - Department of Finance group of Votes. The Dáil ordered that the following Revised Estimates for Public Services be referred to the committee for consideration. The Votes in question are Vote 7 - Office of the Minister for Finance, Vote 8 - Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Vote 9 - Office of the Revenue Commissioners, and Vote 10 - Office of the Appeal Commissioners.

I welcome the Minister for Finance and his officials to the meeting. The purpose of today's meeting is to consider the Revised Estimates and the supplementary performance information regarding outputs and impacts of programme expenditure. A draft timetable for the meeting has been circulated. Is the timetable agreed? Agreed. I now call on the Minister to make his opening statement.