Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

We will commence then with the Planning and Development Act 2000 (Exempted Development) (No. 3) Regulations 2021 and the Planning and Development (Street Furniture Fees) Regulations 2021. We are joined this morning by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O’Brien, accompanied by Mr. Terry Sheridan, Mr. Conor O’Sullivan and Mr. Jason Taylor from his Department. The members have been circulated with the opening statement and briefing material. I will first ask the Minister to make his opening statement. If members wish to contribute on this I would ask them to keep their contributions as brief as possible as these are quite straightforward exemptions to the planning regulations and, as the members will know, we are pressed for time on the second item we have on the agenda.

On privilege, members are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their participation in this meeting. This means that they have an absolute defence against any defamation action for anything that they say at the meeting. However, they are expected not to abuse this privilege and it is my duty, as Chairman, to ensure that this privilege is not abused. All members are fully aware of the rules regarding privilege.

The opening statement submitted to the committee will be published on the committee website after this meeting. I call Deputy Ó Broin to speak.