Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The main business of the meeting is consideration of Office of the Ombudsman's annual report for 2013. I remind all present, including members, media representatives and the public, that mobile phones and BlackBerry devices, must be turned off completely or switched to flight or safe mode as they interfere with the sound system, even if left in silent mode.
Cuirim fáilte roimh Mr. Peter Tyndall, ombudsman. Tá seisean chun an tuairisc bliaintiúil a chur os ár gcóir don chéad uair ins an ról atá aige faoi láthair. I also welcome the other members of the delegation: Ms Bernie McNally, director general, and Mr. Tom Morgan, senior investigating officer. I thank them for circulating their presentation in advance to members. I hope we will have a fruitful discussion on it.
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. 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 evidence connected only 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 a person or persons or an entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable.