Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and his officials who are joining us today, Ms Laura McGarrigle, assistant secretary, Mr. James Gibb, principal officer and Ms Mary Rogerson, principal officer.

Before I invite the Minister to deliver his opening statement, I wish to advise him of the following in relation to parliamentary privilege. He is protected by absolute privilege regarding the presentation he makes to the committee. That means that he has an absolute defence against any defamation action for anything he says at the meeting. However, he is expected not to abuse the privilege and it is my duty, as Chair, to ensure it is not abused. Therefore, if his statements are potentially defamatory to any identifiable person or entity, he will be directed to discontinue his remarks and it is imperative that he comply with any such direction.

Our meeting this afternoon is to engage with the Minister regarding consideration of the report of the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes and matters raised in previous correspondence concerning the report and the destruction of records and audio files by the commission of investigation. I invite the Minister to now deliver his opening statement and that will be followed by a question and answer session with members. I will call on the members in the order in which they indicate, if they wish to start doing so now. I also remind members that they have a full seven minutes for their contributions today, but I will have to cut everyone off at the end of that time. I call the Minister.