David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of this part of the meeting is to engage with some of those who made a written submission on the Employment Equality (Abolition of Mandatory Retirement Age) Bill 2014. On behalf of the committee, I welcome the witnesses and thank them for giving their time to come here. We are joined by Age Action Ireland, the Law Society of Ireland, representatives of the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament and some members of the public, so we will go through the introductions as we come to people.

A number of issues arise. I ask people not to respond until I call them as we have a recording system and we must give people the chance to activate the microphones. Do not touch any buttons either as this will be done automatically. If anybody has a mobile phone, please turn it off or put it on aeroplane mode as these interfere with the sound recording system. That goes for colleagues as well, so please ensure all phones are off.

I will invite groups and individuals to make a statement of approximately five minutes and I ask witnesses to keep to this as many people wish to contribute and we want to finish at a reasonable hour. There will be a question and answer session with members about points arising and perhaps there will be interaction between different groups as well. Before beginning, I draw the attention of witnesses to the position regarding privilege. They should note that by virtue of section 17(2)(I)of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. However, if witnesses are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to a qualified privilege in respect of the evidence. Witnesses are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and 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. Members should also be aware under the salient ruling of the chair to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the House or an official by name in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.