Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)

Tá céad míle fáilte roimh na finnéithe chuig an gcruinniú seo. I have received apologies from Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher. He is attending a meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in London. I have also received apologies from Senators Diarmuid Wilson and Gerard Craughwell.

As most of the witnesses have been in those seats recently, they will understand this, but I have to go through it again. As we are in public session, I wish to bring to their attention the following note about privilege. 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 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 legal advice on this matter. Privilege against defamation does not apply to the publication by witnesses outside of the proceedings of this committee of any matters arising from the proceedings.

I advise members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex 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.

I do not believe we have any members joining us by Teams this morning, but should any member seek to participate via Teams, I will ask them to confirm that they are on the grounds of Leinster House before they make their contribution.

Members are reminded of the long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity by name or in any such 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, I will direct them to discontinue their remarks and it is imperative that they comply with any such direction that I make.

I have already welcomed the witnesses. I also want to welcome those watching online and those in the Gallery who are here observing our meeting. There is a huge amount of interest in this meeting and it is one I have been very keen to have as we run into the December Council meeting and the negotiations around the quota allocation. It is a very topical issue in light of the mackerel crisis that has dominated all our agendas over the past number of weeks.

We will discuss quotas, the Common Fisheries Policy and the sustainable impact assessment. The committee meeting will be broken into two parts. In first part we will hear from sectoral representatives and in the second from the Minister and his officials. Officials from some of the agencies under his remit will be here to listen to the feedback members want to give and answer questions ahead of the negotiations.

Witnesses are representing the Seafood Ireland Alliance, which comprises a number of producer organisations, POs. We are joined online by Mr. Patrick Murphy, CEO of the Irish South and West Fisheries Producers Organisation; Mr. Dominic Rihan, CEO of Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation; Mr. Aodh O'Donnell, CEO of the Irish Fish Producers Organisation; Mr. John Lynch, CEO of the Irish South and East Fish Producers Organisation; and Mr. Brendan Byrne, CEO of the Irish Fish Processors and Exporters Association.

I understand two written statements have been provided and circulated to members. As time is short in this particular meeting, I will ask Mr. John Lynch and Mr. Patrick Murphy to provide two-minute synopses of the statements. We have an awful lot to discuss. When I come to members, we will work on the basis of five minutes for each member, and that has to include time to put a question and get a response. I will remind members of that when we start the question and answer session. If Mr. Murphy is online and ready to go, he can provide a two-minute summary of his opening statement.