Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We will move on to the next item on the agenda, engagement with Ireland's representatives at the WorldSkills Competition in Abu Dhabi. The purpose of this part of the meeting is to welcome the Irish team who represented Ireland at the WorldSkills competition in Abu Dhabi. They won seven medallions for excellence which is fantastic and an excellent achievement. Every one of the competitors should be very proud and I have no doubt that they and their colleges, families and workplaces are very proud.

We are very interested to hear about the witnesses' experiences as both apprentices and as competitors at the competition. On behalf of the committee, I would like to welcome Paul O'Toole, CEO of Seirbhísí Oideachais Leanúnaigh agus Scileanna, SOLAS, John Twohig, chairman of WorldSkills Ireland, and medallion winners, Eoin Shortall, Colum Farrelly, Gavin Lyne, Kevin Hough, Kathlyn Leahy and Aaron Ronan. I also welcome the following people who are in Public Gallery: Ray English, Dublin Institute of Technology, DIT, an official delegate to the WorldSkills and Donal Keys, chair of the DIT IrelandSkills organising committee, and Tim O'Halloran, Cork Institute of Technology, chair of CIT's IrelandSkills organising committee and WorldSkills expert in construction metalwork, and Michael Hourihan, head of the centre of craft studies.

Mr. Tim O'Halloran is the chair of the Cork Institute of Technology, CIT Ireland skills organising committee and WorldSkills expert in construction metalwork, and Mr. Michael Hourihan is the head of the Centre of Craft Studies at the CIT and skill completion manager for electrical installations at WorldSkills. Mr. Hourihan was here as a witness before, when the committee addressed the issue of the importance of apprenticeships and skills in further education.

I also welcome Nikki Gallagher, the director of communications and secretariat at SOLAS. We have engaged with Mr. Gallagher both as a witness and outside. He is doing a wonderful job. I also want to particularly welcome the other members of the Irish team which participated in the 2017 WorldSkills competition, namely David Donegan, Brendan Muldowney, Stephen Murray, Jane McSwiney, Sean Hogan, Gary Horgan, John Cassidy, Maria Walsh, Eimear Smith and Emma Kelly. You are all very welcome. I understand that you are going to have a reception with your family and friends afterwards. Thank you very much for the invitation to the committee to attend. I am sure one of us will be able to attend for a few minutes.

The format of this part of the meeting is as follows. I will invite you to make a brief opening statement. That will be followed by a short engagement with the members of the committee on any questions or comments that the members have. You will get the opportunity to reply.

Before we begin, there are some formalities that I need to get out of the way. 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 myself as Chair 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 wish to advise that any opening statements made to the committee will be published on the committee website after this meeting, and I remind committee members of the same.

I now call on Mr. Paul O'Toole, who will make the opening statement on behalf of SOLAS.