The minutes of the meeting of 14 December have been circulated. Are they agreed? Agreed. Are there any matters arising? As there are no matters arising, I will proceed to the business of today's meeting. Apologies have been received from Deputy Olivia Mitchell. With the agreement of members I propose to postpone consideration of correspondence and the work programme until the end of the forthcoming public meeting and proceed instead to our discussion of matters relating to pensions and potential tax liabilities with officials of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and Department of Social Protection. Is that agreed?
Business of Joint Committee
I propose that we postpone consideration of correspondence and the work programme until the next meeting of the joint committee given that few members are likely to be in attendance at the conclusion of the meeting if all 27 members avail of the opportunity to speak. It would not be fair to agree the work programme if 90% of members have left the meeting.
We may have a brief discussion at the conclusion of the meeting but we will not make any decisions on the work programme today. Is that agreed? Agreed.
Sitting suspended at 2.02 p.m. and resumed at 2.05 p.m.