Chairman:

Apologies have been received from Senator Mulherin. Before beginning, I remind members, witnesses and persons in the Gallery to turn off their mobile phones as they affect the broadcasting system.

The European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Phil Hogan, is appearing before us today. I am pleased to welcome him on my behalf and that of the committee and I thank him for taking time out of his busy schedule to address us on developments in the agriculture sector. I also welcome his officials, Mr. Dermot Ryan, Mr. Tom Tynan and Mr. Gerry Kiely, head of the European Commission representation in Ireland. I wish Mr. Kiely well in his new post and thank Ms Barbara Nolan, who served in that post, for her assistance to previous committees.

I am conscious of the time constraints and I understand that the meeting is to conclude at 11.45 a.m. in order for Mr. Hogan to address the Joint Committee on European Union Affairs. There will be a ten or 15-minute break for the changeover between this and the next meeting. During that changeover, both committees will have an opportunity for a photo-call outside the room.

The Commissioner is well aware of the privilege position through previous experience. Witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they are to give 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 are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable. Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against any person outside the House or an official, either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

As the Commissioner is aware, this committee is only in its infancy. As part of our work schedule, we have prioritised a number of issues. Obviously since the general election and the formation of this committee, Brexit has become the biggest issue and is a key element of our work programme. The second issue we have prioritised is the volatility in all agricultural sectors and the third is the mid-term review of the Common Agricultural Policy, CAP. We look forward to hearing the Commissioner's views on these issues.

Before I call on the Commissioner to speak, I must ask members to be focused with their questions. We have a limited timeframe so I will be giving each member the opportunity to ask one particular question and in that way we will get value for money from the Commissioner today. I ask members to put one question to the Commissioner initially and if we have time, we can go back around a second time.

I now invite the Commissioner to make his opening statement.