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

We will commence our meeting. We have received no apologies. We are here to process Committee Stage of the Criminal Justice (Mutual Recognition of Custodial Sentences) Bill 2021. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Justice with special responsibility for law reform, Deputy James Browne. Members will be aware of the norms of behaviour in our new hybrid world. Members can participate from the rooms within the campus. In the event that a is division called, members will be requested to attend the committee room for that purpose. If members wish to speak, I ask them to catch my eye in the room here or to raise their hand using the Microsoft Teams function. At this stage we are all quite proficient in all of that.

With out any further ado we will move on now to the Bill. I ask that the Minister of State make some remarks at the end rather than at the start, if that is in order. He will, of course, want to take us through the different sections, as amendments arise. Only four amendments have been tabled, all of which are by the Minister, and no members have any amendments down for this particular Bill. We will begin our deliberations then.