Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To our second session, I welcome Dr. Michael Scott, cybersecurity expert and former head of the school of computing in Dublin City University, DCU, who is attending remotely, Mr. Pat Larkin, CEO of Ward Solutions, who is here in the committee room, and Mr. Padraic O'Reilly, chief product officer of CyberSaint Security, who is also attending remotely. Mr. Larkin and Mr. O'Reilly have appeared before the committee previously, and I welcome Dr. Scott as well.

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 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 with respect 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 attending remotely from outside the Leinster House campus, there are some 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 does. Witnesses participating in this committee session from a jurisdiction outside the State are advised that they should be mindful of 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 remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex to participate in public meetings. Reluctantly, I will not permit a member to participate where he or she is not adhering to this constitutional requirement. Therefore, any member who attempts to participate from outside the precincts of Leinster House will be asked to leave the meeting. In this regard, I ask any member partaking via MS Teams to confirm, prior to making his or her contribution, that he or she is on the grounds of the Leinster House campus.

Members and all those in attendance in the committee room are asked to exercise personal responsibility in protecting themselves and others from the risk of contracting Covid-19. I ask all the witnesses to confine their contributions to five minutes to allow us time for the members to ask questions.

I invite Dr. Scott to make his opening statement.