Mr. Shane McCarthy:

I thank the Chairman. It is an honour and a privilege to be before the committee today. By way of introduction, I am a solicitor based in Skibbereen in west Cork. I have a general legal practice with a particular emphasis on judicial review. In addition to my role as a solicitor I have served on several regulatory boards, including the Garda Síochána Complaints Board, the Law Society of Ireland, the Parole Board and the chartered surveyors regulatory board. I have extensive experience in regulatory matters.
I examined the role of the chairman of the Censorship of Publications Board and took the view that the experience I had gained in the written reports that I had prepared for the other boards, the academic articles that I had written and the research I had completed on legislative change and proposed legislative change formed a skill-set particularly suited to this position. I applied for the position having seen it advertised on publicjobs.ie. I was pleased to receive the invitation to come before the committee today and I look forward to answering any questions that any Deputies or Senators have.