James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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We have some people joining us online and a number of members are in the room for the hybrid format we are used to. I remind everybody to switch off their mobile telephones or switch them to airplane mode as they may interfere with the sound system.

I welcome our witnesses. The meeting today is the second part of a two-part engagement on the general scheme of the gambling regulation Bill. We have a number of witnesses to share their wisdom and expertise with us. The witnesses are appearing virtually. I welcome Mr. Barry Grant, addiction counsellor and project manager from Extern Problem Gambling; Dr. Helen McAvoy, director of policy, and Dr. Ciara Reynolds, public health development officer, at the Institute of Public Health; and Ms Pam Bergin, chief executive officer of Gambling Awareness Trust.

To deal with some housekeeping, if people are not speaking, I ask them to put their computer on mute, to turn on their microphone when they are speaking and then turn it off again when they finish. We have some observers from the Department of Justice. Ms Clare Brosnan and Ms Joanne King attend our meeting and can answer questions if those questions are more properly directed to the Department of Justice.

Members will be aware of parliamentary privilege. For the benefit of witnesses, they 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 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. Witnesses attending remotely from outside Leinster House should note that, because we are still in a somewhat unusual situation, there may be some limitations on parliamentary privilege. They may not enjoy the same full degree of immunity as they would if they were present on the Leinster House campus. It is, as yet, not tested and it is hoped it is not tested before this committee, but the witnesses should be mindful of that for their own benefit. If there was ever a challenge, they may not have the full privilege they would enjoy were they physically present in the building.

The format of the meeting is that we will take each organisation in turn, and the representative of each organisation will be invited to make a brief opening statement.

We have kept these at three minutes. While this is a little short, we have found in the experience of the committee that it is better to have a short opening statement and more time for discussion afterwards. This is the way we generally do it. We have four witnesses, with three organisations represented. For the benefit of witnesses who have not been here before, I will call them one at a time to deliver their opening statements, after which each member will be afforded seven minutes to ask questions and elicit responses from the witnesses. Each member has, therefore, a seven-minute question-and-answer session with witnesses. It is a good opportunity to make further points and elaborate. We will go around the table once and members will also be permitted to contribute a second time if they wish.

I call Mr. Barry Grant from Extern Problem Gambling to make his opening statement and thank him for attending.