Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Good evening and welcome. This is the third of our sessions today to look at the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged By the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Bill 2022. We are joined by Ms Caroline Timmons, acting assistant secretary, Mr Paul Benson, principal officer, and Mr. John Wickham, senior adviser, from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; and by Mr. Bob Jordan, CEO, and Mr. Peader Espey, programme manager for the defective concrete blocks grant scheme, from the Housing Agency. I thank them for joining us at this late hour. We appreciate it. We have had two previous sessions at which we met with families and representatives of homeowners affected by the issue and with the SCSI, the expert working group and Engineers Ireland, respectively. Those sessions have given us a good picture of the issues for all involved. The witnesses' opening statements have been circulated. We thank them for those.

I remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the place where Parliament has chosen to sit, namely, Leinster House. Witnesses attending in the committee room are protected by absolute privilege in respect of their contributions to today's meetings. This means they have an absolute defence against any defamation action for anything they say at the meeting. Both members and witnesses are expected not to abuse the privilege they enjoy. It is my duty as Chair to ensure that this privilege is not abused. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in relation to an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative they comply with any 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 Houses or an official, either by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable.

I invite our witnesses to make their opening statements. I will start with the Department and we will then go to the Housing Agency.