Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegations. Today is the second in a series of meetings we are having on carbon and energy in construction. At our previous meeting we heard from the Department and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. Just last week we also had a meeting on the energy performance of buildings directive that strayed into embodied carbon and carbon in construction as well, so it is quite timely for us to have the meeting today to follow up on some of the issues arising at that meeting.

Today we are joined by Mr. Mark Christal and Ms Rowena Dwyer from Enterprise Ireland. We are also joined by Mr. Pat Barry of the Irish Green Energy Council and Mr. Ciarán O'Connor and Mr. Gerard Harvey from the Office of Public Works. We are joined remotely by Mr. Neil Kerrigan, Mr. Ross O'Colmain and Mr. Kevin Flynn from Enterprise Ireland. We are also joined remotely by Ms Mairéad Phelan of the National Building Control Office. They are all very welcome. The opening statements have been circulated to members and will be available on the website after the meeting.

I remind members of the constitutional requirement that members must be physically present within the confines of the place where Parliament has chosen to sit, namely, Leinster House, to participate in public meetings. Those attending remotely from within the Leinster House complex are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their contributions to today's meeting. This means they have an absolute defence against any defamatory action at the meeting. There are some limitations on parliamentary privilege for witnesses who are attending remotely from outside Leinster House and, as such, they may not benefit from the same level of immunity from legal proceedings as a person physically present within the Leinster House complex. Members and witnesses are expected not to abuse the privilege they enjoy. It is my duty as Chairman to ensure this privilege is not abused. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in respect of an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks and it is imperative that they comply with such direction.

Members and witnesses 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 House or an official either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

I will invite witnesses to make their opening statements and perhaps they might limit those statements to approximately five minutes, as there are quite a few witnesses here today, which is good. We will hear from Enterprise Ireland, the Office of Public Works, the Irish Green Energy Council and the building control office, in that order.