I thank the members for electing me chairperson of the committee. I am honoured to have been appointed to this position. I look forward to working with you during the lifetime of the Dáil and Seanad, which will be about five years.
Mobile telephones are bouncing off the microphones and causing interference. They must be turned off, and not simply put on silent. If all telephones are switched off, the interference we are hearing must be coming from somewhere else.
I am deeply honoured to have been elected to this position. I look forward to working with you, my colleagues, on the committee, particularly those members who are newly elected Members of the Dáil and Seanad. From my own experience on the Joint Committee on the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and from reading the reports of the Joint Committees on Transport and Tourism, Culture, Sport, Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, I know the amount of work done by those committees. This committee is a convergence of three legislative committees and our workload will be reflective of that.
I know from previous experience of working with some of you, the enthusiasm you will bring to this committee. I also know by reputation new Members of the Dáil and the genuine interest they have in the areas of the environment, transport, community and the arts. I hope the work programme of the committee during the next five years will be undertaken in a collaborative way. One of the greatest aspects of working on a committee is the work programme. It is divided into three areas. First is the select committee, or legislative work. This is to some degree adversarial. Second, the joint committee meets groups who come before the committee, whether from statutory agencies or non-governmental organisations. Third is the work the committee itself decides to do. In my experience, this has been a collaboration between all members of the committee, regardless of party affiliation. I hope an extensive work programme will be carried out by this committee and done in a way that allows us to provide a series of quality work reports, as opposed to moving from week to week and ticking boxes. There are some very major issues that the committee can look at. At the next committee meeting I will discuss issues that members may wish to include on the work programme and some ideas of my own. I will also give background information regarding the work programme carried out by the previous committees.
I will introduce the committee secretariat. The clerk is Eugene Ó Cruadhlaoich. The other clerk, who is not in attendance today, is Sinéad Quinn. Beside me also is Leonora Curley, who is assistant clerk to the committee and Caitríona Dunne. Other members of the staff are Nuala O'Hanlon and Colm Duffy.
