Keira Keogh (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The item for consideration this morning is a discussion on child protection matters, special care and special emergency arrangements. We are joined at the meeting by representatives of Tusla, as follows: Ms Kate Duggan, CEO; Ms Rosarii Mannion, national director for people and change; Mr. Pat Smyth, national director for finance and corporate services; and Mr. Gerry Hone, national director of services and integration. They are all very welcome back to the committee. I congratulate them on the launch of their annual report yesterday.

Before we begin, I have a couple of housekeeping matters to go through. We have one member joining us on Teams. For that member, I give a reminder that the chat function should only be used to make the team on site aware of technical or urgent matters. There is a constitutional requirement for members to be present on the Leinster House complex in order to participate in public meetings.

In advance of our witnesses delivering their opening statements, I advise them of the following in respect of parliamentary privilege. They are protected by absolute privilege in respect of the presentation they make to the committee. This means that they have an absolute defence against any defamation action for anything they say at the meeting. However, they are expected not to abuse this privilege and it is my duty, as Cathaoirleach, to ensure the privilege is not abused. 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 ask them to bear in mind that if we are talking about specific locations, they are sometimes easily identifiable.

Ms Duggan will be allocated five minutes to deliver her opening statement, which will be followed by a question-and-answer session with our members. I invite her to deliver her opening statement.