We regret that there are a lot of votes and meetings this morning and it has slightly delayed our programme. I warmly welcome everyone, particularly our colleagues from Northern Ireland, Ms Margaret Ritchie, leader of the SDLP, and her colleagues, Dr. Alasdair McDonnell and the former leader of the party, Mr. Mark Durkan. We warmly congratulate them on their elections in Northern Ireland, we are absolutely delighted with their success and wish them and all of those colleagues who were elected every success. It was a tough battle and everyone did very well and we congratulate all candidates who stood from all parties. They have sustained and enhanced democracy in Northern Ireland and we are very grateful for the positive impact they have had personally and collectively.
This morning I had the opportunity to meet Dr. Ian Paisley and his wife, Lady Eileen Paisley, as they visited Dáil Éireann officially for the first time. They also visited Seanad Éireann and are attending other meetings in the Government block with the Taoiseach and others. We are delighted they came here and hope that one day they might be guests of this committee, along with their colleagues.
I warmly welcome the CAWT group. Unfortunately, we have been called away to fulfil our democratic, constitutional execution but we will back as soon as possible.