Denis O'Donovan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will resume with our final tranche of public hearings. As the delegates representing some of the groups were not present to hear the notice on privilege I read out earlier, it is important that I reiterate it. Before we begin I want to draw the attention of witnesses to the situation in regard to privilege. 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 do so, 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 are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against a person or an entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable.

The first group in this tranche is the Immigrant Council of Ireland, represented by Hilkka Becker, to be followed by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and the Transgender Equality Network Ireland. Each speaker will have ten minutes to make a presentation. As we have already got their written submissions, I ask them to crystallise or synopsise the critical issues they wish to put before the Senators. On completion of their submissions, a question and answer session will follow. I invite Ms Becker to proceed.