Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We will now discuss what it takes to sustain a viable rural community with representatives of the national directorate for fire and emergency management, NDFEM, and the Office of Public Works.

From the NDFEM I welcome Mr. Seán Hogan, national director; and Mr. Conor O'Sullivan, assistant principal officer. From the Office of Public Works I welcome Mr. Vincent Campbell, acting director of engineering services; Mr. Mark Adamson, assistant chief engineer and director of the Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management programme; Mr. John Murphy, assistant chief engineer; and Mr. Brian Brogan, principal officer; and Mr. Liam Basquille, principal officer in the flood project management section. I thank everybody for attending.

By virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they are to give to the committee. If, however, they are directed to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and continue to so do, 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 any person or an entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable. The opening statement and any other documents may be published on the committee website.

Members are reminded 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 in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. Today's meeting, as members probably know, is part of a series of meetings that this committee is holding to consider what it takes to sustain a viable rural community. During these deliberations we are examining all aspects of the requirements of rural communities in modern Ireland, including employment, emergency services, local services, quality of life, education and transport. Today we will deal with the second stream of this, which is the provision and maintenance of adequate emergency services in rural areas, including dealing effectively with flooding and the threat of flooding.

To kick off, I ask the representative of the national directorate for fire and emergency management to address the committee.