Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Members and witnesses to this meeting of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, at which we will be discussing the proposed changes to local property tax, LPT. We are joined by Ms Anne Marie Walshe from the tax division of the Department of Finance and Dr. Keith Walsh from the statistics and economic research branch of Revenue, who has responsibility for local property tax evaluation modelling. The briefing from the Department of Finance has been circulated to members. For members' information, we had sought witnesses from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage as well, because of their role in respect of local property tax. Unfortunately, there was nobody available from the Department at short notice. We will, therefore, have a further session with officials from that Department.

The format of the meeting will be that I will first ask the witnesses for their opening statements and this will be followed by questions from members. Deputy Mitchell is substituting for Deputy Ó Broin for part of the meeting.

I will read the note on privilege. Members attending remotely from within the Leinster House are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the presentations they make to the committee. This means that they have an absolute defence against any defamation action for anything they say during the meeting. However, they are expected not to abuse this privilege. It is my duty as Chair to ensure that this privilege is not abused. I remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present in the confines of the place where Parliament has chosen to sit, namely, the Convention Centre Dublin or Leinster House. I ask members to identify themselves when speaking and to they confirm that they are within the confines of the Convention Centre Dublin or Leinster House.

For witnesses attending remotely, there are some limitations to parliamentary privilege. As such, they may not benefit from the same level of immunity from legal proceedings as a person who is physically present. The opening statement submitted to the committee will be published on the committee's website after this meeting. I invite Ms Walshe to make her opening statement.