James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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In the first instance, I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. As he has outlined, it is one of the most significant committees and always has been in the history of the Dáil. To get the role of Chair makes it a very significant day for him.

Within our group, we certainly want to work collaboratively with the Cathaoirleach here and at an individual level, one of the reasons I wanted to join the public accounts committee was to build on that kind of collaborative work. In the case of those of us who have come from a local authority -and Deputy McAuliffe has been named a few times - I served under Deputy McAuliffe when he was Lord Mayor and I know that is the approach he adopted and that certainly is why I am on this committee. I have always been of the view that sunlight is the greatest disinfectant and if we can follow the money, we can bring transparency.

The public will be well served by the work we do here. Ultimately Deputy Brady has outlined a number of areas and like Deputy Farrelly has just said, I will not share my shopping list now but I will highlight one subject that is coming up in terms of timeliness, and that is in respect of personal injury guidelines and the impact the increase of those guidelines could have on costs as it relates to the State Claims Agency. Obviously the indirect effect of those costs for small businesses and insurance is a significant one.

I look forward to working with the Cathaoirleach on the committee. I congratulate him. I also look forward to working with everyone else.