Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the members and witnesses for attending and they are all very welcome. On behalf of the committee, first and foremost, I welcome from the Department of the Taoiseach Ms Émer Deane, assistant secretary general in the British and Northern Ireland affairs division and shared island unit and Mr. Eoghan Duffy, principal officer in the shared island unit. I thank them both for taking the time to meet us this morning.

The format of the meeting is that I will invite Ms Deane to make an opening statement and this will be followed by questions from members of the committee. Each member has a five-minute slot in which to ask questions and for the witnesses to respond. We dealt with this earlier in private session and there will be flexibility on this.

Before we begin, I remind members of the constitutional requirement that in order to participate in public meetings, members must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex. Members of the committee attending remotely must do so from within the precincts of Leinster House. This is due to the constitutional requirement that in order to participate in public meetings, members must be physically present within the confines of the place where Parliament has chosen to sit. In this regard, I ask members partaking via MS Teams that, prior to making their contribution to the meeting, they confirm they are on the grounds of Leinster House.

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 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. It is imperative they comply with any such direction. As the witnesses are probably aware, the committee will publish the opening statement on its website following this meeting. MPs participating in this committee session from a jurisdiction outside of the State are advised they should also be mindful of their domestic law and how it may apply to their participation in proceedings.

I will shortly call on Ms Deane, who I understand is no stranger to the committee from previous times. It is a pleasure to have her here and I thank her for her time. Her opening remarks have been circulated to the committee and I invite her to make them now.