Neale Richmond (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Apologies have been received from Senator Craughwell, who is being substituted by Senator Boyhan, from Senator O'Reilly, who is being substituted by Senator Reilly; and from Senator Mulherin, who is being substituted by Senator Noone. Senators McDowell and Ó Donnghaile have given notice they will unfortunately be arriving a little late. I remind members and those in the Gallery to ensure all mobile phones are switched off or put on airplane mode as they interfere with the sound system.

On behalf of the committee, I warmly welcome Mr. John Bruton to the committee today. I do not really know where to start in terms of an introduction because it is fair to say that Mr. Bruton is someone who probably does not need and introduction to this particular audience. As a former Minister, former Taoiseach, former ambassador of the EU to the US and former negotiator of the draft European constitution, he has a depth of knowledge and understanding of the EU and how it works, of interacting with our European partners at different levels, and of the intricacies of the relationship with the United Kingdom. As a result, he has an understanding of many of the issues at play and the challenges that Brexit presents, which are considerable. We very much welcome Mr. Bruton's willingness to share his insights and analysis. A number of us followed his extremely impressive appearance before the House of Lords committee quite recently and we took great solace from it.

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 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 this committee. However, if they are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence relating to a particular matter and they continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to a qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of the proceedings is to be given and they are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise nor make charges against any person, persons or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable.

With all that out of the way, I ask Mr. Bruton to make his opening remarks.