Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the delegation from the Georgian Parliament. They are very welcome.

I will begin by giving in advance what may be our apologies. As I said to members of the delegation before the meeting started, we have a potential vote and believe it might take place within the next hour. If a vote is called, we will have to adjourn this session very quickly to allow committee members to take part in the vote. We will start and see if we can get through all of our engagement today.

Before we begin, I must attend to some housekeeping which is known as the note on privilege. All witnesses are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any 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 any person or entity. Therefore, if a statement is potentially defamatory in relation to any identifiable person or entity, witnesses will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that they comply with any such direction.

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 of 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 members participating, but not physically present, must be within the confines of the Leinster House complex to participate in any public meeting. In this regard, I ask any member partaking via MS Teams to confirm they are on the campus prior to making a contribution to the meeting.

I call Mr. Nikoloz Samkharadze to make his opening statement.