Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of our meeting today is have an engagement with a number of stakeholders who have made written submissions to assist the committee in its consideration of the topic, minorities engaging with the justice system. This topic is an important one that was suggested by Deputy Pringle. All witnesses are appearing virtually before the committee this afternoon, from a location outside of the Leinster House precincts. I welcome them to the meeting. We are joined by Mr. John Farrelly and Ms Orla Keane from the Mental Health Commission; Mr. Bernard Joyce, director, and Ms Jacinta Brack, co-ordinator of advocacy and communications, from the Irish Traveller Movement; Dr. Salome Mbugua, CEO, and Ms Leina Ibnouf, development officer of AkiDwA; Ms Collette O'Regan, senior training and advocacy co-ordinator of LGBT Ireland; Mr. Deaglán Ó Briain and Ms Mary O'Regan, both principal officers from the Department of Justice. I thank the witnesses for being here.

I invite the witnesses to unmute their devices to allow the sound to feed into the committee room. I presume they can all hear me and there are no difficulties. They might stay on mute while they are not speaking and then unmute themselves accordingly. When we begin to engage I ask members and witnesses to mute themselves so they are not contributing to any background feedback. I ask that they would use the button to raise their hand when they wish to contribute. As usual, I remind all those in attendance to ensure their mobile phones are on silent mode or switched off.

Before I invite witnesses to deliver their opening statements, I must make them aware of the following note regarding parliamentary privilege. All witnesses are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise nor make charges against any 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. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in respect of 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 attending remotely, outside of the Leinster House campus, there are some limitations to parliamentary privilege. As such, they may not benefit from the same level of immunity from legal proceedings as a witness physically present does. Witnesses participating in this committee session from a jurisdiction outside the State are advised that they should also be mindful of their domestic law and how it may apply to the evidence they give.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the Houses or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. I ask members who are participating remotely from Leinster House to keep their devices on mute until they are invited to speak. When they are speaking, I ask that where possible they have their camera switched on and to be mindful that we are in public session. In addition, I remind members of the constitutional requirement that they are physically present within the confines of the place in which Parliament has chosen to sit, namely, Leinster House, in order to participate in public meetings. I cannot permit a member to participate where they are not adhering to that constitutional requirement. Therefore, any member who tries to participate in this meeting from outside the precincts will be refused.

I remind members and witnesses that they are expected to strictly adhere to the subject matter scheduled for discussion today. Any deviation on these matters will be addressed through the Chair. The provisions of standing orders in relation to matters which are sub judiceplace an onus on members to avoid, if at all possible, comment which might affect or prejudice the outcome of a court decision. Therefore, we cannot admit any discussion or questioning which relates to any current litigation or court proceedings in the course of this meeting.

I will invite each organisation in turn to make an opening statement for a maximum of three minutes. Once all the opening statements have been delivered, I will then call on members of the committee, in the order they indicate, to put their questions. We are not trying to close the contributors down. We just have a very short window for being able to hold physical meetings because of Covid. Even though we are participating remotely, we are also physically in a room together. That is the constraint. Witnesses should please take it as read that we have the statements and members have read them in preparation for the meeting. We invite the witnesses to make their opening comments as much for the benefit of the people watching as for members of the committee.

I invite Mr. Farrelly to make his opening statement. He has three minutes.