James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That concludes our questioning. I think everyone who wanted to get in has got in. A couple of members were watching online and keeping an eye on things as well. That concludes the meeting. That was an extremely comprehensive and useful deliberation. I thank all our witnesses for their time today.

There are a couple of housekeeping matters. We normally publish all the opening statements we receive on the committee’s website. I ask the members to agree that. Is that agreed? Agreed. Very good. That is that.

That was extremely useful. Just so witnesses know the procedure, we have a second round of this. We do not always do that. It depends on the complexity or scale of the items being considered. On anything substantial such as this, we often do two sessions. We have today’s hearing and a second hearing in about a fortnight’s time, where it is large media organisations. The National Union of Journalists, NUJ, will be coming in I think. We will then produce a report. After all the deliberations have concluded, we will produce a report that will summarise both the discussions that took place, the key points that emerge from each session will be noted, and we will then come to a series of recommendations as a committee. That will then go to the Houses, the public domain and the Minister. In theory at least, it informs the development of the Bill, and I hope in practice too. Sometimes they coincide but not always. We certainly hope that will be taken into account when the Bill is moving before it comes to Second Stage and progresses onwards. It is extremely helpful to have the contributions. I wish to note as well, and it was said by one of the witnesses, that there is a great degree of overlap and agreement even though witnesses may come from different sides of the discussion. That in itself is significant and I note that.

That concludes our business. I do not think there is any other business that our members wish to raise.