Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Apologies have been received from Deputy Brendan Smith who is on Oireachtas business. Today, as part of our work programme for 2018, we are commencing a series of meetings with the North-South implementation bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement. It has been some time since the committee has heard from some of the bodies and we are keen to get an update on their work, the challenges facing them and, in particular, the impact Brexit may have on their work. Today we will hear from InterTradeIreland and Tourism Ireland across two sessions.

I welcome Mr. Aidan Gough, chief executive, and Ms Kerry Curran of InterTradeIreland. I will invite Mr. Gough to give his opening statement which will be followed by questions from members of the committee. Before we begin, however, I remind members, guests and people in the Visitors Gallery to ensure that their mobile telephones, tablets and so forth are switched off for the duration of the meeting as they cause interference, even in silent mode, with the recording of the committee's proceedings.