Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We have received apologies from Deputies Cannon, Carroll MacNeill and Smith and Senator Warfield. Other colleagues will join us remotely and some are coming in a little later.

Today we are continuing our meetings on the recommendations Nos. 4 to 19, inclusive, of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality, which relate to care and social protection. Today we have representatives from the Disability Federation of Ireland, Disabled Women Ireland, and the Independent Living Movement Ireland.

I welcome our witnesses this morning. Ms Fleachta Phelan, senior policy advocate with the Disability Federation of Ireland is joining us here in person. She is very welcome. Joining us remotely are Ms Amy Hassett and Ms Maria Ní Fhlatharta, co-directors with Disabled Women Ireland. They are both very welcome. Ms Fiona Weldon and Ms Eileen Daly from Independent Living Movement Ireland are very welcome and join us remotely. Ms Weldon is the strategies for change co-ordinator and Ms Daly is a CREATE life coach. We are very accustomed now to having these hybrid meetings, which is great because it really maximises participation.

Our committee is charged with overseeing the implementation of the 45 recommendations of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality, which we regard as a blueprint for achieving gender equality in Ireland. Our focus is very much on how to implement those recommendations. We will produce an action plan at the end of our term in December. We want to focus, therefore, on the practical implementation of the recommendations. We are conscious that many of today's witnesses, and our witnesses generally, have already participated in the citizens' assembly process. We do not want to duplicate that work. We want to build on the great work the citizens' assembly has done.

Witnesses are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they are to give to the committee. If, however, they are directed by it to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and continue to so do, they are entitled thereafter only to qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. They are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceedings is to be given and they are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in such a way as to make them identifiable. Participants who are to give evidence from a location outside the parliamentary precincts are asked to note that the constitutional protections afforded to those who are participating from within the parliamentary precincts do not extend to them. No clear guidance can be given on whether, or the extent to which, the participation is covered by absolute privilege of a statutory nature.

I welcome all of our witnesses and thank them for being here to engage with us. We ask for a time limit of five minutes each on the opening statements. I thank the participants for providing the committee with some very detailed opening statements.

I call Ms Fleachta Phelan to make her opening statement on behalf of the Disability Federation of Ireland.