Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

I am required to read a short statement on privilege for the benefit of our witnesses. Witnesses giving evidence from within the parliamentary precincts are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence they give to the committee. This means that a witness has full defence in any defamation action for anything said at a committee meeting. However, witnesses are expected not to abuse this privilege and may be directed to cease giving evidence on an issue at the Chair's direction. Witnesses should follow the direction of the Chair in this regard. They are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that, as is reasonable, no adverse commentary should be made against an identifiable third person or entity. Witnesses who are to give evidence from a location outside the parliamentary precincts, those joining us on MS Teams, are asked to note that they may not benefit from the same level of immunity from legal proceedings as a witness giving evidence from within the parliamentary precincts. They may consider it appropriate to take their own legal advice on the matter. Privilege against defamation does not apply to publications by witnesses outside of the proceedings held by the committee of any matters arising from the proceedings.

I thank the witnesses for attending the meeting to discuss this pressing issue. I welcome Mr. Cormac Burke, chairman of the Irish Fishing and Seafood Alliance; Mr. Enda Conneely, vice-chair of the Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation, who is joining us remotely; Mr. Brendan Byrne, Seafood Ireland Alliance and Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association; and Mr. John Lynch; Seafood Ireland Alliance and Irish South and East Fish Producers Organisation. Witnesses' opening statements have been forwarded to members. As the time for this discussion is fairly limited, I will not ask them to give the full statement; rather, I ask them to give a brief two-minute synopsis of their statements. We will proceed to a question-and-answer session thereafter. For the benefit of members, once we begin the question-and-answer session, I ask them to indicate and we will do the same practice we did previously whereby each member has a five-minute slot to ask questions. Responses are also included in the five minutes and I ask members to bear that in mind when framing their questions.

We will start with an tUasal Uí Chongaile atá ar líne on MS Teams. He has two minutes.