Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for coming before the committee this afternoon. Would Ms Dolan mind if I started with a couple of questions to her specifically about the important issue of academic freedom? Regrettably, this year we have already seen two examples of interference with academic freedom. First, there was a complaint by the head of a Chinese company about an article published by an academic in the school of politics and international relations at UCD. The company head wrote to the Secretary General of the Department of Defence and copied it to the Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney.

Second, in respect of DCU, where another respected academic is running a course on Russia and the post-Soviet space, letters of complaint were made to the academic institution by a number of ambassadors. Is academic freedom becoming a more significant issue? Is that freedom being more undermined in recent years or are these just unusual examples?