Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses who have come before the committee and I thank them for doing so. From the HSE, I welcome Mr. Paul Reid, chief executive officer, who I do not see on screen but who I believe is joining us, Ms Anne O'Connor, chief operations officer, Dr. Colm Henry, chief clinical officer, and Ms Niamh O'Beirne, national lead for testing and tracing. From the Health Protection Surveillance Centre, I welcome Dr. John Cuddihy, director. This is Dr. Cuddihy's first time joining us.

Before we commence the formal proceedings, I advise the witnesses giving evidence from a location outside of the parliamentary precincts that they should note that the constitutional protections afforded to witnesses attending to give evidence before a committee may not extend to them. No clear guidance can be given on whether, or the extent to which, evidence given is covered by absolute privilege of a statutory nature. We need not go into the advice to persons giving evidence from another jurisdiction as there are none today. If witnesses are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter, they must respect that direction.

Before he makes his opening statement, I have a question for Mr. Reid. When Mr. David Walsh of the HSE was before the committee two weeks ago, he indicated he would provide all correspondence the HSE had with acute hospitals on the discharge by acute hospitals of patients into nursing homes, as well as correspondence with nursing homes on residents who were suspected of having Covid-19 and on how such residents were to be treated. We have not received that correspondence. Mr. Walsh undertook to give it to us and he did not demur in any way. Will Mr. Reid provide this correspondence to the committee by close of business tomorrow? It is now two weeks since Mr. Walsh undertook to provide that correspondence.