The first item on the agenda is the nomination and election of a Chairman. I invite nominations for the position.
Election of Chairman.
Clerk to the Committee
I nominate Deputy Paul Gogarty.
Clerk to the Committee
Are there any other nominations?
I am not sure if it is necessary to do so but I second the nomination of Deputy Paul Gogarty.
Clerk to the Committee
It is not necessary. As there are no further nominations, I declare Deputy Paul Gogarty elected and now invite him to take the Chair.
Deputy Paul Gogarty took the Chair.
I thank members for nominating and electing me as Chairman. I have not held the position of Chairman of a committee before, and I am honoured to do so now. I look forward to working with all members in the spirit of partnership and co-operation. The less party political the issues the more progress will be made. Obviously, issues will sometimes be party political as often political points can be only made from the Opposition benches. Such contributions are welcome from time to time. However, in general and, working together in a spirit of co-operation, we can bring our combined skills and enthusiasm to bear to make this a productive committee as was the case with the previous committee.
I welcome the new members to the committee, in particular those newly elected to the Dáil and Seanad. I note that several members from the previous committee are present today. I pay tribute to the members of the former Joint Committee on Education and Science who contributed in various ways to its workings during the past five years. I note in particular the appointment to this committee of Deputies Ulick Burke, Tom McEllistrim and the former chairman of the committee, Deputy Michael Moynihan all of whom made strong contributions to the previous committee and will no doubt do so again in the future.
The work programme of the previous committee was ambitious and much of it was completed during the past five years. I am sure there are many other issues outstanding. The work programme is a rolling work programme which will require us to examine and address many issues within society and not the education sector alone. I hope to be as fair and impartial as possible. One cannot have a partisan Chairman. That does not work. I will try to give each member an opportunity to contribute in the best spirit possible bearing in mind a little controversy and spice do not go amiss from time to time. Unfortunately, the workings of committees are not widely covered by the media and it is often necessary to create a little controversy to get them interested and to deal with the issues needing to be addressed. These issues are then passed on to the line manager, namely, the Minister for Education and Science.
I note Deputy Brian Hayes wishes to contribute but I ask that he wait until after I have performed my first official function with regard to the election of a Vice Chairman.