John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of this morning's meeting is to engage with representatives of the Shannon Airport Authority, the Shannon and District Chamber of Commerce, Clare County Council and SIPTU regarding the general scheme of the Shannon aviation services and miscellaneous provisions Bill 2013. On behalf of the committee, I welcome Mr. Neil Pakey, who is the chief executive officer of the Shannon Airport Authority; Mr. Kevin Thompstone, who is the president of the Shannon and District Chamber of Commerce; Ms Helen Downes, who is the chief executive of the chamber of commerce; Mr. Owen Reidy and Ms Jane Boushell of SIPTU; and Mr. Tom Coughlan, who is the Clare county manager.
I wish to draw the attention of witnesses to the fact that by virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, they are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to this committee. However, if they are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to a 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. They are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person, persons or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable. I also wish to advise the witnesses that any submission or opening statements they have submitted to the committee will be published on the committee's website after this meeting. 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 either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

I propose that a representative of each of the delegations will make a presentation, to be followed by a question and answer session. As the groups' submissions have already been circulated and may already have been read by the members of the joint committee, perhaps their presentations should be kept as short as possible so that we can devote more time to questions and answers. I hope that is okay. I ask Mr. Neil Pakey of the Shannon Airport Authority to make some opening remarks.