Before we bring in the witnesses, I want to deal with some housekeeping. The purpose of today's meeting is to engage with stakeholders about the examination of enforcement of road traffic offences. Various representatives are coming in. Before we get to that, I want to deal with some incidents that arose over the last fortnight. We had a sequence of events here over the past couple of weeks. A meeting was organised and cancelled a couple of days later, as members will be aware. We then had commentary on those events in the media, including by me, unfortunately. We reflected on that. None of that was ideal or conducive to good management or running of the committee. For my part, I regret the way events unfurled. It was not good practice. We have worked well and collaboratively as a committee. As Chair, I have tried to accommodate members' interests and views and I try to put my own positions forward. I try to work with and for all. We have one of the greatest workloads of any committee in the Houses. We have had significant activity over the past year since we convened. I hope we can keep that team spirit. For my part, I regret the way events unfolded. I hope we can all move into the future with renewed vigour and spirit.
Business of Joint Committee
We do work and it is essential that we can work privately on things, so that we can air our different views. I think the Chairman named me directly in comments to a media outlet. I found that disappointing, not just as a member of the committee but as Vice Chair. It makes it difficult. I know the Chairman regrets the comments. I do not think it was necessary. Will the Chairman make his regret public or are we going-----
This is public session, as we speak. The cameras are rolling. This is a live attraction.
I welcome the comments being on the record. I respect being able to discuss issues that are important to us all for many different reasons in private meetings. That is what I felt I was doing. I acknowledge what the Chairman is saying. I was protective of the communities involved so that we did not use them in any way to have discussions that they are not part of. I thank the Chairman for acknowledging that.
I am happy to speak to both members, or to any other members, after the meeting. It was not my intention to refer to any community in particular. I was trying to come at it from a wider position. As I said last week, there was a series of events over the summer which I felt needed attention and still need attention. I refer to a series of incidents rather than any particular incident. That is going outside of the spirit of the comments that I made. I appreciate what has been said.