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

I thank Mr. Mullen for that point.

That concludes our consideration of this matter and our question and answer session. I have a few closing remarks on housekeeping matters. I thank all the witnesses for their contributions. It was a very useful session. We had a previous session on it but it was worthwhile to have a second follow-up session to allow all the organisations that participated to have their say. Also, the engagement with members was very enlightening.

On a housekeeping note, other associations sent in written submissions but for one reason or another they could not attend, either because they were not in a position to come in or it was not possible within the timeline to incorporate them. Those include the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants, AHCPS, GSOC, the Association of Garda Chief Superintendents and Dr. James Renwick. I thank them also for their written submissions, albeit it was not possible for various reasons to have them appear before the committee.

On a general note, as a committee we strive to have as balanced a discussion as possible and invite representative groups and stakeholders across the spectrum on any topic with which we engage. Any organisations that wishes to correspond with us or indicate to us their interest on a particular matter is welcome to do so. Many of the organisations represented did that ahead of today's meeting, which partly led to today's session. That is something we encourage and are happy to facilitate. If there are other groups who wish to have the opportunity to make a submission on any other topics, they are also welcome to do so. As a general rule, I would invite those groups to make themselves known in good time because we have certain parameters within which we work. It is regrettable another speaker who was due to participate, who I think would have made a valuable contribution, pulled out a fortnight ago, which was too late to replace that slot. That was a pity but sometimes these things happen.

As a general reminder, all the contributors and organisations represented today are in regular correspondence with the committee and are regular stakeholders. We have published for the purposes of good order a protocol. We drafted a document in terms of engaging with the committee with respect to timelines in order that everyone understands the deadlines to which we work when we issue an invitation, the written submission to be made and then the opening statement to be forwarded. We did that for the purposes of good order so that we can manage the committee most effectively and ensure we have the optimal engagement. That will be distributed to all stakeholders, including the organisations represented on this call. I ask them to be mindful we have certain timelines we need to meet to facilitate the committee working smoothly. All the organisations might take note of that. We will circulate a note on that.

That concludes our consideration of this matter. I propose, as would be norm, to publish all the statements received today on the committee’s website. Is that agreed? Agreed. The transcripts of the committee are always available as are the video recordings but some of the statements presented, the full details of which, may not have been delivered, will be made available.

On my own behalf and that of members, I thank the witnesses for taking the time to engage with us. I ask the members to stay on the call for a brief period as we have some internal housekeeping to do in private session. That concludes our deliberation on this important topic. There is a lot work to go into this still and from our engagement today, it appears to be more rather than less in terms of what needs to happen next. We will have continual engagement. We as a committee will produce our own report in due course. I am certain it will reflect all the points that were made today and more from the members' views, which probably most likely will coincide with many of the views expressed by the witnesses. I thank the witnesses again and wish them good evening. They may withdraw from the meeting.