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

Very good.

I remind members and witnesses, as usual, to turn off their mobile phones or to switch them to flight mode. It is not that the sound necessarily carries but it can interfere with the recording and broadcast at times.

The purpose of this meeting is to have an engagement with a number of stakeholders, all of whom had made written submissions to assist the committee in its consideration of courts and courthouses. All witnesses are appearing virtually before the committee from locations outside the Leinster House precincts. I can see our guests logging on and coming up on screen. They are all very welcome.

I wish to formally welcome to the meeting Mr. Darren Lehane SC, and Ms Mema Byrne, barrister at law, as representatives of the Council of the Bar of Ireland; Mr. Kieran Kenny, chairperson, and Ms Dympna Kenny, general manager, from Victim Support at Court; Dr. Aideen Hartney, director and Ms Susan Kennefick, senior policy and public affairs adviser from the National Disability Authority; Ms Angela Denning, CEO, and Mr. John Cleere, assistant secretary, from the Courts Service; Ms Nicola Matthews, senior architect, from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; and finally, Mr. Gerry McDonagh from the Department of Justice, who is joining is in an observer capacity today, in accordance with the Standing Order we agreed to at the last meeting.

I welcome all the witnesses. I must declare an interest or connection to one of the witnesses, namely, Mr. Darren Lehane SC, who had not so much the privilege but the dubious distinction of being my master when I trained at the Bar. I am therefore well acquainted with him. Any gaps in my knowledge are entirely my own and certainly are not the fault of the tutor but rather, are of the pupil. I wish to acknowledge that and to thank him for his assistance throughout same.

I ask the witnesses to unmute their devices when they are contributing and to mute them when they are not to minimise interference and manage the sound. Can all the witnesses hear me? Yes; good. I also ask witnesses to be aware that mobile phone signals can interfere with the sound system, even if the phones are not making noise.

The following should be noted in relation to 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 manner 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. Therefore, if their statements 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. I do not think any witnesses are participating from a jurisdiction outside the State today. Members are similarly advised of the same procedure as regards privilege. We are meeting in a hybrid mode today, with some members and witnesses attending remotely and others attending in person. Unfortunately, members who are not physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex will not be able to participate. They can observe but cannot speak at the meeting because they do not satisfy the constitutional requirements to benefit from parliamentary privilege of being present on the Leinster House campus.

Finally, I remind members that the discussion today has a particular agenda, theme and tone. I therefore ask members and indeed witnesses to adhere to that as much as is practical and possible throughout the discussion because time is somewhat limited, although we do have two hours for our deliberations. The provisions on Standing Orders in relation to matters which may be sub judiceplace an onus on members to avoid comment on any matters which may be subject to proceedings, live or otherwise. We will not stray into any matters that are the subject of current litigation in the course of the meeting.

The format of the meeting is that each organisation will be granted five minutes to make an opening statement. That can be shared between witnesses or one representative can speak on behalf of each organisation. We have a rota system in place on the committee. Each member is allocated seven minutes for the first round, including both the questions and responses. It is up to the members as to how they use their time during the engagement, whether it is a seven-minute monologue or a rat-a-tat seven minutes full of questions and answers. I will move on after seven minutes has been allotted to each member. If there is time at the end, there will be a second round of five minutes per member for secondary supplementary questions.

I will call on the witnesses in the following order, namely, Ms Byrne of the Bar of Ireland, Ms Kenny of Victims Support at Court, Dr. Hartney of the National Disability Authority and finally, Ms Denning of the Courts Service. Each witness has five minutes to make their opening remarks. I invite Ms Byrne to present to the committee.