Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have received apologies from Deputy Clarke. I welcome a few guests from the Houses of the Oireachtas to our committee.

On behalf of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, it gives me great pleasure to welcome Ms Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, leader of the opposition in Belarus, her senior adviser, Mr. Franak Viaorka, and her delegation. We welcome them to Leinster House for what is a very special meeting of the committee.

Ireland has enjoyed a long and special relationship with Belarus and its people. Ms Tsikhanouskaya has a really special bond with the people of Ireland. The members of this committee, and indeed the Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas, have taken a keen interest in matters arising in Belarus over the years, but particularly those from the past year or so. Earlier this year our committee held a meeting with representatives of the People’s Embassy of Belarus in Ireland after which we unanimously agreed a resolution of condemnation on the matter of the interception by the Belarusian authorities of a flight originally destined for Vilnius, which was taken to Minsk. We also called for the immediate release of, and freedom of movement for, Mr. Roman Protasevich and Ms Sofia Sapega. I welcome Ms Tsikhanouskaya and thank her for making time to visit us and give us a presentation in the form of an update on her perception of matters in Belarus.

The format of our meeting is that we will hear Ms Tsikhanouskaya's opening remarks followed by questions and answers from members of our committee who are appearing by means of Zoom. I hope we will conclude our proceedings in about an hour. In that regard, I ask members of the committee, and our guests, to be really concise with questions. If if is agreeable to members I will limit the initial first round of questions to three minutes in order to allow as many members as possible the opportunity to ask questions. Is that agreed? Agreed. I have received notice from some guests at the committee that they also wish to be associated with our deliberations and ask a couple of questions. I hope we have time to entertain such questions following the contributions by members.

I remind witnesses of the long-standing parliamentary practice that we should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make any person readily identifiable or engage otherwise in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of any person or entity, especially when they do not have a right of reply. Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against any person outside the House or an official either by name or in such a way as to make that person identifiable. I remind members that they are only allowed to participate in the meeting if they are physically located either in the Leinster House complex or the Convention Centre, Dublin, where the plenary session of our Parliament is proceeding due to Covid.

I am delighted to call on Ms Tsikhanouskaya to make her opening remarks.