Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 27 April 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine

Regulation of Veterinary Medicines: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Jackie CahillJackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

From the Veterinary Council of Ireland we have Ms Niamh Muldoon, registrar and chief executive officer; Mr. Joe Moffitt, president; and Dr. Ailis Ní Riain, deputy president. They are joining remotely from a witness room in Kildare House. They are very welcome to the meeting. We have received the opening statement from the witnesses, which has already been circulated to members. We have limited time due to Covid-19 safety restrictions so the committee has agreed that the opening statement can be taken as read and we will use the full session for questions and answers, as we did in the first half of the meeting. All opening statements are published on the Oireachtas website and 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 who are in locations outside the parliamentary precincts are asked to note that the constitutional protections afforded to those participating from within the parliamentary precincts do not extend to them. No clear guidance can be given on whether or the extent to which participation is covered by the absolute privilege of a statutory nature.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.