Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Fitzmaurice has said he will be late joining the meeting. Before we begin, Members now have the option of being physically present the committee room or may join the meeting via Microsoft Teams, with the proviso that for meetings in public they must be in their Leinster House offices. Members may not participate in the meeting from outside the parliamentary precincts. If joining on Microsoft Teams, please mute microphones when not making a contribution. Please use the raise-hand function to indicate. Please note that messages sent in the meeting chat are visible to all participants online. Speaking slots will be prioritised for members of the committee.

Members and all attendees are asked to exercise personal responsibility in protecting themselves and others from the risk of contracting Covid-19. They are strongly advised to practise good hand hygiene. I urge them not to move any chair from its current position and to maintain appropriate levels of social distancing during and after the meeting. Masks, preferably of a medical grade, should be worn at all times during the meeting, except when speaking. I ask for co-operation on these issues.

Today’s meeting on carbon sequestration and storage in agriculture will be in three sessions. In the first session, we will hear from officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. In the second session, we will be joined by representatives of Teagasc, including representatives of the Farm Zero C project on Shinagh Farm. In the final session, we will hear from representatives of Devenish.

For session one, I welcome the following officials from the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Mr. Bill Callanan, chief inspector, Mr. Fergus Moore, principal officer and head of forest sector development division, and Ms Deirdre Fay, principal officer and head of climate change and bioenergy policy division, who is joining us remotely. They are all very welcome to the meeting. They will be given ten minutes to make their opening statement before we have questions and answers.

Before we begin, I have an important notice on parliamentary privilege. Witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they are to give to the committee. However, if they are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and they continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected to the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given. They are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person, persons or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable.

Participants in the committee meeting from a location outside the parliamentary precincts are asked to note that the constitutional protections afforded to those participating within the parliamentary precincts does not extend to them. No clear guidance can be given on whether, or to what extent, such participation is covered by absolute privilege of a statutory nature.

I invite Mr. Callanan to make his opening statement.