Mr. Justice John Quirke:

On behalf of the commission, I thank the committee for inviting us to discuss the recommendations made in our report on harmful communications and digital safety, which was published last year.

As committee members may know, there are five commissioners in the Law Reform Commission. They include Mr. Raymond Byrne, who is the full-time commissioner, and Professor Donncha O'Connell, professor of law at NUI Galway and head of the law school there. Ms Justice Carmel Stewart, who is a judge of the High Court, and Mr. Tom O’Malley, senior lecturer in law at NUI Galway, are also commissioners. As you indicated, Chairman, Mr. Ciarán Burke is our director of research.

The harmful communications and digital safety project was one of 11 projects within our fourth programme of law reform. It was the sixth project. All our commissioners participate fully in and contribute to all the projects. Our methodology includes the appointment of what we call a co-ordinating commissioner for each project.

That means that each of the commissioners is a co-ordinating commissioner in respect of two of the projects, and takes a particular interest in and certain responsibility for that with the full-time commissioner, the director of research and appointed and nominated researchers.

The co-ordinating commissioner in respect of this report has been Professor Donncha O'Connell. With the permission of the committee, I ask him to make his opening statement.