The first meetings of the Northern Ireland Assembly committees took place at Parliament Buildings yesterday. Members began their consultation, policy development and scrutinising role over the work of the North's ministers.
Five committees, each including 11 members of the Assembly, examined the issues facing their respective departments.
Ms Dara O'Hagan, the Sinn Fein MLA for Upper Bann and a member of the committee for enterprise, trade and investment, said yesterday's meeting of the cross-party committee, which includes the DUP, was conducted in a businesslike manner.
"The fact that there has been 30 years of closed government means transparency and accountability in government are very much to the forefront of our minds," she said.
Mr Alan McFarland, the UUP deputy chairman of the committee on regional development and a member of the health committee, which both met yesterday, said the meetings allowed only a preliminary introduction.
The Minister of Finance and Personnel, Mr Mark Durkan of the SDLP, explained the North's inherited budgetary status to the finance committee. Four of the ministers did not attend the sessions but many have made arrangements to meet their committees.
Mr David Ford, of the Alliance Party and a member of the environment committee, described the session as a useful introduction to the procedures. He said issues identified as priorities included planning and waste management. "They are going to be huge issues for the North in the future."
The education committee, which will scrutinise the work of Mr Martin McGuinness, convenes today under the chairmanship of the Ulster Unionist, Mr Danny Kennedy, with the position of deputy chair held by Mr Sammy Wilson of the DUP.
The agriculture committee, the social development committee and the committee for the department of culture, arts and leisure also meet today.
The new ministers spent another busy day on the job yesterday. The Ulster Unionist Minister of the Environment, Mr Sam Foster, was in Hillsborough, Co Down, to pay tribute to the work of the North's Historic Monuments Council.
The North's Deputy First Minister, Mr Seamus Mallon, visited staff at the Equality Unit in Belfast. He said its work was central to delivering on the promise of equality that lies at the heart of the Belfast Agreement. "Marginalisation and underachievement can no longer be a way of life in this new, inclusive society that we are tasked to build," he added.
Ms Bairbre de Brun of Sinn Fein, Minister of Health and Social Services, visited a children's assessment care centre in Newtownards, Co Down. "It is essential that we give children here the best possible start in life and ensure that they are nurtured and cared for throughout their childhood and on into adulthood," she said.
Meanwhile, the five Assembly members of the Assembly Commission, which tends to the practical needs of the new administration, have announced the creation of 60 new jobs at Stormont in the next few months, with 400 more expected over three years.
Mr John Fee, the SDLP MLA for Newry and Armagh, said the commission intended to open up the recruitment process to everyone, with appointments by merit rather than the past practice of simply taking staff from the Northern Ireland Civil Service.
Newspaper advertisements on the posts to be filled will appear over the next few days and commission member Mrs Eileen Bell of the Alliance party said applications from people living outside the North would be welcomed.