Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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Apologies have been received from Deputies Cathal Crowe, Dillon and Ward. Before we begin, I need to go through a few housekeeping matters. I ask any member or witness participating remotely who experiences any sound or technical issue, to let us know through the chat function. Otherwise, we will proceed. I advise everybody that as this is a public meeting, the chat function on Microsoft Teams should be used only to advise participants of any technical issue or urgent matter and should not be used to make general comments or statements. I remind members participating remotely to keep their devices on mute until they are invited to speak, and when they are speaking, I ask that, where possible, they have their cameras switched on and be mindful we are in public session.

In addition, I remind members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the place in which Parliament has chosen to sit, namely, Leinster House, 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, any member who attempts to participate in the meeting from outside the precincts will be refused.

Members participating in the meeting from the committee room are asked to exercise personal responsibility in protecting themselves and others from the risk of Covid-19. They are strongly advised to practise good hand hygiene. They will notice that every second seat has been removed to facilitate social distancing. I urge people not to move any chair from its current position and always to maintain an appropriate level of social distance during and after the meeting. Masks, preferably of medical grade, should be worn except, obviously, when people are speaking. I ask for co-operation in this matter.

We are in the first of two sessions of our public meeting today. I welcome Mr. Simon McGarr of McGarr Solicitors and Dr. Fred Logue, principal of F.P. Logue Solicitors. The purpose of this afternoon's meeting is to engage with them on the pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the birth information and tracing Bill and any general data protection regulation, GDPR, concerns.

Before I invite the witnesses to speak, I need to give this advice on parliamentary privilege. As all of the witnesses are appearing before the committee virtually, I need to point out there is uncertainty if parliamentary privilege will apply to their evidence from a location outside the parliamentary precincts of Leinster House. Therefore, if the witnesses are directed by me to cease giving evidence about a particular matter, it is imperative they comply with any such direction.

Each of them will be allocated five minutes' speaking time. Due to the time constraints this afternoon we need to try as best we can to stick to that timeframe. We will have time for questions and answers after the witnesses have spoken, with each member also allocated five minutes.

I now invite Mr. McGarr to deliver his opening statement.