James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We now turn to the main business of this evening's session, which is scrutiny of Statutory Instrument No. 400 of 2017 Waste Management (Tyres and Waste Tyres) Regulations. This was laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 15 September 2017. These regulations may be annulled by both Houses of the Oireachtas within 21 sitting days after they were laid, in accordance with section 7(3) of the Waste Management Act 1996, and the committee decided to scrutinise these new regulations, which come into effect from 1 October 2017, provided they are not annulled or otherwise found problematic in this session.

I draw the attention of witnesses to the fact that by virtue of section 17(2)(l) of the Defamation Act 2009, witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. However, if they are directed by the chairperson to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to so do, 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 these proceedings is to be given and they are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person, persons or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable.

I also wish to advise witnesses that any submission or opening statements they have made to the committee will be published on the committee website after this meeting. The audio and visual will be online also.

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.

I also remind members to turn off their mobile phones or turn them to flight mode, because they can interfere with the sound system and make it difficult for the parliamentary reporters to report the meeting, and it can also interfere with television coverage and live streaming.This is not always obvious. It might appear to be fine at the time, but on looking back at a video clip it is distorted.Even if it does not appear to be so, it can happen within the equipment.

I would like to welcome witnesses from the following organisations: the officials from the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA; the Protecting Uplands and Rural Environments project, PURE; Repak End of Life Tyres, ELT; Producer Register Limited, PRL; the Independent Tyre Wholesalers and Retailers Association; the Irish Tyre Industry Association, ITIA; the Irish Road Haulage Association, IRHA; the Irish Farmers Association, IFA; and the Association for Tyre Retail Standards, ATRS. I will invite witnesses in a moment to give evidence, and then we will proceed to a question and answer session with the members.

The committee will now proceed to consider the statutory instrument. The nuclear weapon is annulment, but we have a variety of options. It is a normal item of business that we consider such secondary legislation when it comes through, so we will now proceed to do so. The opening statements have been circulated to the committee and they will be published on the committee's website after the meeting. Representatives from the County and City Management Association, CCMA, could not join us today, however they have made a submission which will also be published on the committee's website after the meeting.

I will call on the first witness from each organisation. As part of your submission you may wish to introduce additional witnesses from within your organisation but we will start with one witness from each organisation to lead out. We have one change to the witness list. We will hear from Mr. Niall Murphy, CEO of the Irish Tyres Industry Association, rather than Mr. Paddy Murphy, the president, as was initially planned. We will take Mr. Murphy when we get to him, in sixth place on the list.

Our first witness is Mr. Matt Collins, assistant secretary to the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. We will listen to Mr. Collins' evidence and then we will move on accordingly.