Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the representatives from Teagasc, Dr. Stan Lalor, director of knowledge transfer, and Mr. Tony Pettit, head of education, both of whom join us remotely. You are both very welcome to the meeting.

We received your opening statements and they have been circulated to the members. We are limited in time due to Covid-19 restrictions so the committee has agreed that the opening statements will be taken as read in order that we can use the full session for questions and answers, as happened in the first part of the meeting. All opening statements are published on the Oireachtas website and publicly available.

Before we begin, I must read an important notice on parliamentary privilege. Witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they give to the committee. However, if they are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to a qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. Witnesses are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given. They are asked to respect 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 joining the committee meeting from a location outside of parliamentary precincts are asked to note that the constitutional protections afforded to those participating 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 absolute privilege of a statutory nature.

Before inviting questions from the members, the director of Teagasc, Professor Gerry Boyle, appeared before the committee previously and he requested that Teagasc get a chance to put forward its policy on agricultural education, which is critical to the industry.

I call Senator Boyhan.