Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Ba mhaith liom fáilte is fiche a chur roimh na finnéithe agus mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leo as bheith in ár dteannta inniu don chruinniú tábhachtach seo. Before we begin I must go through some housekeeping matters, as I do at the start of every public meeting. I am sure committee members are absolutely sick of hearing this from me.

Those witnesses who are giving evidence from within the parliamentary precincts are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the evidence that they give to this committee. This means that they have a full defence in any defamation action for anything said at the meeting. However, witnesses are expected not to abuse this privilege and may be directed by the Chair to cease giving evidence on any issue. Witnesses should follow the direction of the Chair in this regard and 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, like those joining us on MS Teams for example, should note that they may not benefit from the same level of immunity from legal proceedings as witnesses giving evidence from within the parliamentary precincts. They may consider it appropriate to take their own legal advice in this matter. Privilege against defamation does not apply to the publication by witnesses outside of the proceedings of this committee of any matters that have been raised in the proceedings.

I 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. Therefore, a member who attempts to participate from outside the parliamentary precincts will be asked to leave the meeting. If members are joining us via MS Teams I will ask them to verbally confirm that they are on the grounds of Leinster House prior to making their contribution. Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against any person or entity either 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. 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.

The agenda for today's meeting is a discussion on island fisheries issues and the situation for our island fisheries sector. The committee will hear from the following witnesses from the Irish Islands Marine Resource Organisation, IIMRO: Mr. Enda Conneely, leas-chathaoirleach and Mr. Séamus Bonner, secretary who are with us in the meeting room. We are also joined online by Mr. Jerry Early, chairperson. Our witnesses are joined by their IIMRO colleagues Ms Muireann Kavanagh, Mr. Neily Kavanagh and Mr. Martin McBride, who are also very welcome to the meeting.

The opening statement has been forwarded to members. I invite our witnesses to give a brief synopsis of that statement on the understanding that it has already been read by members. Then we will proceed to questions and answers from members in ten-minute slots. Members will indicate to me when they want to contribute. I will take them in the order in which they indicate and they will have ten minutes each to put questions but also to get responses from the witnesses. There are clocks above the cameras so everyone can see the clock ticking down. I remind members to leave sufficient space within their slot for answers from the witnesses. I now invite Mr. Conneely to provide a two-minute synopsis of the opening statement.