Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are here to discuss the departmental six-monthly report submitted by the Minister under section 2(5) of the European Union Scrutiny Act 2002. The report covers the period from July to December last year. We will also review the progress made during Ireland's Presidency of the EU, with emphasis on Single Market measures, product safety and market surveillance, and SME competitiveness and financing.

The Minister was here last week and we congratulated him and the team for the great work done during the six-month Presidency. We are very conscious of the workload the officials of the Department had on their desks in the last six months and probably before that as well. It is recognised that a great job was done and that the Department's area was very significant during the Presidency. On behalf of the committee, I want to thank the officials of the Department for that extra work and congratulate them on the job done for Ireland, which we appreciate.

I welcome the Secretary General, Mr. John Murphy, who will make the presentation. By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. However, if they are directed by it to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and continue to so do, they are entitled thereafter only to qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person or an entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable. Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

I ask the Secretary General to make his presentation, which will be followed by a question and answer session.