Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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The joint committee is meeting today in public session for a briefing on procurement and the defence sector. The purpose of today's meeting is to provide the committee with details of the overall environment in which procurement takes place in Ireland ahead of the committee's meeting next week with the Department of Defence on the Defence Sectoral National Development Plan 2026–2030 and defence procurement. We are joined by the following officials from the Office of Government Procurement, OGP: Ms Anne Stewart, assistant secretary, Ms Anne Lannon, principal officer, and Mr. Fergal Grogan, assistant principal officer. We are also joined by Dr. Paul Davis, head of the management group school in the faculty of business in Dublin City University, DCU. On behalf of the committee, they are all very welcome. The format of the meeting will be that I will first invite Ms Stewart to make an opening statement and then Dr. Davis. This will be followed by questions from members. Each member will have a seven-minute slot to ask questions and for witnesses to respond.

I advise members of the constitutional requirement that they must be physically present within the confines of the Leinster House complex in order 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 from outside the precinct will be asked to leave the meeting. In this regard, I ask members participating via Microsoft Teams that, prior to making their contribution to the meeting, they formally confirm that they are on the grounds of the Leinster House campus.

Both members and witnesses 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, they will be directed to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative that they comply with any such direction.

I now invite the witnesses to deliver their opening statements.