Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In our earlier discussion, we talked about how important the national reform programme is to the European Semester process. Last year we reviewed this matter. It was the first time we had a delegation from the Committee of the Regions in attendance. This year we again have a delegation in attendance. We are joined today by Councillor Mary Freehill, Councillor Neale Richmond, Councillor Maria Byrne, and Councillor Enda Stenson. We have also been joined by two officials from the committee.

For people who do not know, the Committee of the Regions is composed of 344 local and regional representatives from across the European Union. Therefore, it is an important institution which ensures that the views and experiences of local people are fed into EU policy. We saw the committee during our review of the Europe 2020 strategy. It raised many issues that ended up in our report, which we published and sent to the Commission. The issues included making sure that we address regional disparities, and the requirement for strategies, not just from the top down, but involving local and regional organisations in a partnership-based approach, which is a point I made earlier to the Minister of State. All of those things fed into our review of 2020. We are delighted to have the opportunity to discuss the national reform programme with representatives of the Committee of the Regions.

Before we begin, I remind members 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. 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 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 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.

We have spoken beforehand about the order for today's contributions. I will call people from left to right, so I will start with Councillor Mary Freehill.