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

I welcome Mr. Alex Hobbs, fund portfolio manager, and Mr. Richard Watson, investment manager, of Dublin Business Innovation Centre. My apologies for being late. It is hard to judge the times for these meetings but if you need to leave the meeting at a certain time, let me know and we can conclude at that time.
Before hearing your presentation I must inform you about privilege. 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 you are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence in regard to a particular matter and continue to do so, you are entitled thereafter only to qualified privilege in respect of your evidence. You are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and you are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, you 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 invite Mr. Hobbs to make his presentation.