Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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The minutes of the meeting of 20 October 2013 have been circulated to members. Are they agreed? Agreed. I remind members, witnesses and those in the Visitors Gallery to ensure their mobile telephones are switched off completely for the duration of the meeting as they interfere with the recording equipment in the committee room even when in silent mode. If there is interference when people are speaking, the material is not suitable for transmission on "Oireachtas Report".

I welcome the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Gilmore, and his officials to the meeting. It has been a busy week for the Tánaiste and we have quite an extensive agenda for him today. The Tánaiste is here to deal with two distinct matters, first, the Foreign Affairs Council meetings which have taken place since August and the very important meeting which will take place next week, and second, the review of foreign policy and external relations which will be undertaken over the next four months or so. They will be dealt with separately so I ask members to ask separate questions on both of those subjects. They should not ask about the review of foreign policy and external relations when asking questions about the Foreign Affairs Council meetings. The Tánaiste will make two separate statements. I call the Tánaiste to make his opening statement on the Foreign Affairs Council meetings.