The first item on the agenda is the election of a chairperson. I ask for nominations for the position of Chairman.
Election of Chairman.
Clerk to the Committee
It gives me great pleasure to propose Deputy Donie Cassidy, who has been a Member of the Oireachtas for a long time. He would be an excellent Chairman.
It is a great honour to second Deputy Cassidy as Chairman of the Joint Committee. I hope the support of the committee will be unanimous. He will bring great practical experience to the position. He is an outstanding businessman and we would be lucky to have him serve as chairman of this committee.
Clerk to the Committee
Are there any further nominations?
I served with Deputy Cassidy on the Seanad for five years——
He is a good golfer.
He has other qualities but we will not tell Senator O'Rourke about them.
Clerk to the Committee
As there are no other nominations, I call on Deputy Cassidy to take the Chair.
Deputy Donie Cassidy took the Chair.
I am honoured to be elected Chairman of this important and prestigious committee which will serve our country for the next four and half years. I thank my proposer, Deputy Callanan, with whom I have had a great working relationship for more than 20 years. I also sincerely thank Senator Leyden, who is my neighbour and with whom I have worked for a long time. I have great respect for him. I thank the committee for electing me. I am honoured to have been elected unanimously and I thank my Opposition colleagues on the committee for their support.
I welcome the members of the committee, particularly newly elected Members of the Dáil and Seanad. I look forward to working with you in a genuine spirit of partnership and co-operation. I am confident we will bring our combined skills and enthusiasm to bear and make this a highly productive committee that discharges its functions in an efficient and enlightened way. I pay tribute to the members of the hard working outgoing committee and to the former Chairman, Deputy Callely, who is now a Minister of State. I hope this committee will be equally effective. I anticipate that we will refer to and build on the last committee's valuable work programme and that we will identify the trade and employment issues that need to be addressed.
Item 2 is the election of a Vice-Chairman. I propose to postpone this item until the next meeting. Is that agreed? Agreed. I propose that the committee go into private session to discussitem 3, the committee's work programme.
The joint committee went into private session at 2.34 p.m. and adjourned at 3 p.m.