The first item on the agenda today is the election of the Chairman and I invite nominations for the position.
Election of Chairman
Clerk to the Committee
I nominate Deputy Mary Wallace.
I second that nomination.
Clerk to the Committee
Are there any other nominations? As there are no other nominations I declare Deputy Mary Wallace Chairman of the committee and invite her to take the Chair.
I congratulate the Deputy.
I also congratulate the Deputy.
Deputy Mary Wallace took the Chair.
I thank members for the honour of electing me Chairman. I am interested in education and I am delighted to chair the committee. We should pay tribute to the outgoing Chairman, Deputy Paul Gogarty, for his work on the committee. All of us that have been actively involved in the committee will look back over the past 12 months and say a lot of work has been done. Perhaps one of things we should do in the new year is analyse what we have done and see what progress can be made. Again, I thank members for electing me as Chairman of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills.
I propose to go into private session to deal with correspondence. Is that agreed? Agreed.
The joint committee went into private session at 10.15 a.m and resumed in public session at 10.25 a.m.