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

The first item on the agenda is an engagement with the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy McHugh, and an official from the Department, Mr. Hubert Loftus, on the closure of a number of schools constructed by Western Building Systems to allow for structural assessments to be carried out. On behalf of the committee, I welcome the Minister and Mr. Loftus, the assistant secretary general. I also thank Mr. Loftus for his hospitality. The committee was invited to attend a meeting last Wednesday with officials and the Minister. Myself and Deputy Thomas Byrne were pleased to attend that meeting. It was a useful. It is also important we have the opportunity to engage and discuss some of the issues here.

The format of this part of the meeting is that I will invite the Minister to make a brief opening statement. That will be followed by an engagement with members of the committee. Before we begin, I wish to draw everyone's attention 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 committee 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. I call the Minister, Deputy McHugh.