James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Our witnesses are all very welcome. I remind members and witnesses to turn off their mobile phones or to switch them to flight mode. Even if they are not making noise, they can interfere with the recording and broadcast at times. I call on members and witnesses to see to it that their phones are on airplane mode. For the benefit of members and witnesses, I note that a sound recording will be made to assist in the production of minutes. That is what we have started to do. That recording will be deleted immediately upon the minutes being agreed. I say that so people are aware of it.

The purpose of our meeting today is to have an engagement with a number of stakeholders who made written submissions on the general scheme of the Garda Síochána (digital recording) Bill 2021. All witnesses are appearing virtually. We are continuing that approach for witnesses. They are, of course, all outside the precincts of Leinster House. In most cases, they are in their own offices or other locations.

I will welcome each witness in turn. Today we have with us Mr. Bob Collins, chairperson of the Policing Authority; Ms Helen Hall, chief executive of the Policing Authority; Mr. Dale Sunderland, deputy commissioner at the Data Protection Commission; Mr. Gary Russell, assistant commissioner at the Data Protection Commission; Mr. Liam Herrick, executive director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties; Ms Doireann Ansbro, head of legal and policy at the Irish Council for Civil Liberties; Mr. Philip McAnenly, general secretary of the Garda Representative Association; Mr. Brendan O'Connor, vice president of the Garda Representative Association; Ms Rachel Woods, assistant secretary of criminal legislation at the Department of Justice; and Ms Maeve-Anne Kenny, assistant principal of criminal legislation at the Department of Justice. They are all very welcome and I look forward to their engagement over the course of the meeting. When witnesses are speaking, I ask them to ensure they unmute themselves but to mute themselves again after their contribution to avoid interference in the meeting.

Before I move to our guests' opening statements, I want to advise about parliamentary privilege. All witnesses are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not criticise or make charges against a person or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable, or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of the person or entity. If their statements, therefore, are potentially defamatory in regard to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that they comply with any such direction. For witnesses, in particular those attending remotely from a place outside of the Leinster House campus, they should be aware there are some additional limitations to parliamentary privilege and, as such, they may not benefit from the same level of immunity from legal proceedings as a witness who is physically present in the complex. Our guests are probably aware of that at this stage but it is important to reiterate that.

The same goes for members. Again, members will be familiar with the practice and precedent of parliamentary privilege and how it works.

The format of the meeting is that I will invite each organisation to make an opening statement up to a maximum of five minutes. Once all opening statements have been delivered, I will call on the members of the committee in the order in which they indicate to me to put their questions. In the time remaining, if there is time remaining, there will be an opportunity for members to ask supplementary questions. The duration of the meeting is limited, so I ask everyone to be focused in their contributions.

I will call on each organisation to deliver its opening statements. Not every witness I welcomed will give an opening statement but each organisation certainly will. Mr. Bob Collins from the Policing Authority is the first up. He is welcome to the committee.