James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Good afternoon to the members and witnesses. We have not received any apologies for today's hearing. I will read the usual housekeeping notes. I ask everybody to turn off their mobile phones or put them on airplane mode ideally in order that they do not interfere with the sound recordings.

The purpose of our meeting is to consider pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of the proceeds of crime (amendment) Bill 2024. We have a number of stakeholders before us today and I welcome them all to our meeting. I welcome the following witnesses: Mr. Barry Murphy, assistant principal officer, and Mr. Brendan O'Hara, assistant principal officer, from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners; Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Gubbins, chief bureau officer, and Mr. Kevin McMeel, bureau legal officer, from the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB; Mr. Brendan Bruen, principal officer at the Department of Justice; Assistant Commissioner Justin Kelly and Detective Superintendent Steven Meighan from the organised and serious crime unit of An Garda Síochána; and Mr. Sean Guerin SC and Ms Kate Egan BL from The Bar of Ireland. I thank them all for giving of their time and attention today and also for their submissions received in advance.

Before I get on to the main business of the meeting, I advise of the following matters relating to parliamentary privilege and practice. Witnesses and 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 such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable, or to 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 respect of an identifiable person or entity, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks and it is imperative they comply with any such direction if given.

The format of our meeting is that we will take opening statements from each organisation. Some of the organisations have more than one witness but we will take one speaker from each for the opening statements. The opening statements are quite short, at three minutes per organisation, but we find that this format allows for a wider deliberation and discussion as the meeting goes on. We will then use a rota system and the committee members will indicate to me when they wish to speak. There is a six-minute speaking slot for each committee member to put their questions and receive answers from witnesses. As always, we have a time cut-off for the meeting but we will not worry about that just yet as we are only starting. However, I may move things on at certain times if we need to. If we have clarity on a point and it is being laboured, we may move on to the next point to try to keep the meeting moving forward and focused.

I now invite our witnesses to each deliver an opening statement from their respective organisations. We will start with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, on behalf of which Mr. Murphy will make an opening statement.