Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Apologies have been received from Senator O'Sullivan, and Deputy Whitmore is substituting for Deputy Cairns today.

The agenda item for consideration is pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the child care (amendment) Bill 2023. For this session, we are joined by representatives from the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, namely, Ms Lara Hynes, acting assistant secretary, child policy and Tusla governance division and Mr. Toby Wolfe, principal officer, early years quality unit, who are joining us in person, as well as Ms Marie Kennedy, principal officer, alternative care policy unit; and Ms Gill Barwise, assistant principal officer, child protection policy and legislation unit, who are joining us remotely. From Tusla, we are joined by Ms Kate Duggan, interim CEO and Mr. Cormac Quinlan, assistant national director practice reform, who are here in person, as well as Ms Pamela Benson, head of legal services and Ms Fiona McDonnell, national service director, who are joining us remotely. From the Ombudsman for Children's Office, we are joined in person by Dr. Karen McAuley, head of policy and Ms Nuala Ward, director of investigations and by Ms Ciara Gill, policy officer, who is joining us remotely. Finally, from Barnardos, we are joined by Ms Suzanne Connolly, CEO; and Ms Freda McKittrick, head of guardian ad litem service. The witnesses are all very welcome to the meeting.

Before we begin, I will go through some housekeeping matters. As a number of people are joining us on Microsoft Teams, I remind everyone that the chat function on Teams should only be used to make us aware of any technical issues or urgent matters and should not be used to make general comments or statements. I also remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex in order to participate in public meetings. I will not permit a member to participate where he or she is not adhering to this constitutional requirement. Any member who attempts to participate from outside the precincts will be asked to leave the meeting. In this regard, I ask any member who is participating via Microsoft Teams to confirm that he or she is on the grounds of the Leinster House complex before making his or her contribution to the meeting.

With regard to parliamentary privilege, in advance of inviting the witnesses who are here today to deliver their opening statements, I advise them of the following in relation to parliamentary privilege. Witnesses who are participating from the committee room are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect 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 the person or entity. 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 that they comply with any such direction. Witnesses appearing before the committee virtually are reminded that there is uncertainty around whether parliamentary privilege will apply to their evidence given from a location outside of the parliamentary precincts of Leinster House. Therefore, if they are directed by me to cease giving evidence in relation to a particular matter, it is imperative that they comply with any such direction.

Each group has been allocated five minutes' speaking time. The opening statements will be followed by questions and answers. The running order of the opening statements is as follows: Ms Hynes, Ms Duggan, Dr. McAuley and Ms Connolly. I will then go through the speaking rota for members. I note that some stakeholders have raised concerns in relation to the limited time available to complete the pre-legislative scrutiny process on the Bill. I inform our witnesses that the Department has agreed to a two-week extension to the deadline for publication of our pre-legislative scrutiny report. This additional time has been incorporated into our schedule for the completion of that process.

With the housekeeping matters out of the way, I invite Ms Hynes to make her opening remarks.