Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Apologies have been received from Senator Tim Lombard. I remind members that in the context of current Covid-19 restrictions, only the Chairman and staff are present in the committee room and all other members must join remotely from elsewhere in the parliamentary precinct. The secretariat can issue an invitation to join the meeting on Microsoft Teams. Members may not participate in the meeting from outside the parliamentary precinct. I ask members to mute their microphones when not making a contribution and to use the "raise hand" function to indicate. Please note that messages sent to the meeting chat are visible to all participants. Speaking slots will be prioritised for members of the committee.

The topic of today's meeting is eradication of bovine tuberculosis and comprises two parts. The first is engagement with representatives from the Irish Farmers' Association, IFA, the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association, ICMSA, the Irish Cattle & Sheep Farmers' Association, ICSA, and Macra na Feirme. The second is engagement with officials from the Department of Agriculture and the Marine. The TB forum met today under the chairmanship of Sean Brady. The eradication of tuberculosis has been in the news for the past couple of months and it is imperative the committee listens to the stakeholders and the views on this. Then we can go back to the Minister on how best to move towards the eradication of bovine tuberculosis.

I welcome, from the Irish Farmers' Association, Mr. Tim Cullinan, president, and Mr. Thomas Burke, animal health executive. From the Irish Creamery Milk Supplies Association, I welcome Mr. Lorcan McCabe, deputy president, and Mr. Paul Smyth, executive secretary of the dairy and farm business committee. From Macra na Feirme, I welcome Mr. Thomas Duffy, president, and Mr. Derrie Dillon, head of policy. From the Irish Cattle & Sheep Farmers' Association, I welcome Mr. Eddie Punch, general secretary, and Mr. Hugh Farrell, chairman of the animal health and welfare committee. They are all appearing remotely and they are all welcome to this meeting.

We have received the witnesses' opening statements, which have already been circulated to members. We are limited in our time due to Covid-19 safety restrictions and the committee has agreed the opening statements will be taken as read so we can use the full session for questions and answers. All opening statements are published on the Oireachtas website and are publicly available.

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. 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.

Participants in a location outside the parliamentary precinct are asked to note that the constitutional protections afforded to those participating from within the parliamentary precinct do not extend to them. No clear guidance can be given on the extent to which participation is covered by the absolute privilege of a statutory nature.

I invite questions from members.