John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I advise members of the constitutional requirement that members must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex in order to participate in public meetings. In this regard I ask any member partaking via MS Teams that prior to making their contribution to the meeting they confirm they are on the grounds of the Leinster House campus. I will not permit a member to participate where they are not adhering to this constitutional requirement. I will explain some limitations to parliamentary privilege and the practice of the Houses as regards reference witnesses may make to other persons in their evidence. The evidence of witnesses physically present or who give evidence from within the parliamentary precincts is protected pursuant to both the Constitution and statute by absolute privilege. Witnesses participating in this committee session from a jurisdiction outside the State will already have been advised that they should also be mindful of their domestic law and how it may apply to the evidence they give. Their decision as to whether they take legal advice in relation to the evidence they propose to give should also have been informed by this. Ms Hausdorff is giving her evidence remotely from a place outside of the parliamentary precincts and as such may not benefit from the same level of immunity from legal proceedings as a witness physically present does. She has already been advised that she may think it appropriate to have taken legal advice on this matter.

Members and witnesses are again 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 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 and it is imperative that they comply with any such direction. As the witnesses were already informed, the committee will publish the opening statements on its website following the meeting.

We move to engagement with witnesses on the pre-legislative scrutiny. We are here to continue our pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory (prohibition of importation of goods) Bill 2025. Reference to this long title as “the Bill” is the most appropriate reference for the proceedings of this committee. I hope everybody receives that information and understands it. I am happy with the long title to be replaced by references to “the Bill”. I acknowledge at the outset that there are strongly held views in relation to the general scheme of this Bill.

Notwithstanding this, the debate should at all times be focused on the general scheme of the Bill before us, and in accordance with the witness protocol, witnesses should be treated fairly and with respect. The same is expected of witnesses in this and the next session. Equally, I expect that witnesses and members who contribute today will speak and behave with the dignity and decorum befitting a sitting committee of the Houses of the Oireachtas. We also have guests in the Public Gallery today. They are welcome. I remind our guests in the Public Gallery that they may not under any circumstances interrupt the committee's proceedings today. I welcome our witnesses for the first part of a split session. From the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland, we have Mr. Maurice Cohen, chair, and Mr. Yoni Wieder, chief rabbi. From the Ireland Israel Alliance, we have Mr. Alan Shatter, board member of the Israel Council on Foreign Relations, and Ms Natasha Hausdorff, barrister.

The format of the meeting is that we will hear the witnesses' opening statements followed by a question and answer session with members of the committee. Because of time constraints, and this applies to every committee that meets in this House, our protocol in this committee is that members will have four minutes to put questions and that four minutes also includes the time for the answer period. I will be pretty strict on that or else they will eat into the time of other witnesses or other members, and we will run beyond the time allocated. I ask members to be concise in their questions to allow all members the opportunity to participate. Members are also reminded that they will, as I said, have four minutes. The witnesses are all very welcome here today, and we look forward to hearing from them on the work of their organisations. I will now give the floor to Mr. Cohen to make his opening statement, followed by Mr. Shatter and Ms Hausdorff to make their joint opening statement before we take questions.