Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I remind Members, visitors and those in the Visitors Gallery to please ensure their mobile telephones are switched off for the duration of the meeting as, even in silent mode, they do cause interference with the broadcasting equipment. I welcome the Minister of State with responsibility for business and employment, Deputy Gerald Nash, and his officials. I thank them for coming before the committee to discuss the University of Limerick report on the prevalence among Irish employers of zero-hour contracts and their impact on employees. I also wish to remind members of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person or body outside the Houses or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. I now call on the Minister of State, Deputy Nash to make his opening statement.