Apologies have been received from Deputies Robert Troy and Alan Farrell and Senators Lynn Ruane and Annie Hoey. Parliamentary privilege is considered to apply to the utterances of members participating in a committee meeting when their participation is from within the parliamentary precincts. There can be no assurances relating to participation online from outside the parliamentary precincts and members should be mindful of this when they are contributing.
This committee discusses dying, including suicide. Support information can be found on the committee's web page. The first item on the agenda is a video submission from Mr. Brendan Clarke, which was due to be screened last week but we had technical difficulties. Mr. Clarke was invited to engage with the committee but sadly he passed away before this could happen. He had also been invited to share a submission with the committee and the video we will watch is the result of that. On my behalf and that of the committee and the secretariat, I offer condolences to Mr. Clarke's family and friends. I warmly welcome Mr. Clarke's nieces, Tara and Sarah, to this meeting. The audio on the video might not be 100% but it is as good as we can make it, so we must allow for that.