Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the committee, I thank Dr. Mary Murphy for coming from the department of government in University College Cork. She holds the Jean Monnet Chair in European Integration. She has expertise in a number of areas at which the committee is looking. She was unable to come last week when we discussed the future relations between the State and Northern Ireland and we are delighted that she is able to join us today. We will look at the future of the European Union in this session. We will be delighted to hear her thoughts on the issue. Before we hear from her, I must remind members 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. If, however, they are directed by it 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. I invite Dr. Murphy to give her evidence.