Good morning everyone and welcome to our public meeting. Apologies have been received from Deputies Devlin and Buckley and Senator Craughwell.
Before we begin, I congratulate former committee member, Deputy Emer Higgins, on her appointment as Minister of State with responsibility for business, employment and retail at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. She has now been discharged from this committee in accordance with Dáil Standing Order 34. Deputy Higgins was an active and enthusiastic member of the committee and I, along with the other members, thank her for all her work. We wish her well in her future career.
The first item on the agenda is the approval of the minutes of previous meetings. The question is that we approve the minutes of the private meeting of 28 March 2024 and the public meeting of 21 March 2024. The minutes have already been approved in a virtual private meeting but we must do this for procedural reasons. Is that agreed? Agreed.
I remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the place in which Parliament has chosen to sit, namely, Leinster House, in order to participate in public meetings. I will not permit a member to participate where he or she is not adhering to this constitutional requirement. Therefore, any member who attempts to participate from outside the precincts will be asked to leave the meeting.