Apologies have been received from Ms Claire Hanna MP, Mr. Colum Eastwood MP, and Mr. Stephen Farry MP. The reason they are unable to attend is that there is an issue with travel from the UK if they have to go to parliament. This is something we will have to address later because they are very anxious to come. Does Senator Currie wish to comment?
Business of Joint Committee
I touched base with them and they are eager to come but with the restrictions, they have to be careful. It would be beneficial if any documentation could be shared not just with members of the committee but also with people who are eligible to attend, if there is the facility to do that. That might help.
Sure. I think Mr. Chris Hazzard raised that at the last meeting. I will address it in committee if that is okay and, hopefully, we will get a resolution satisfactory to everybody.
Members are advised to turn off their mobile phones for the duration of the meeting, save for flight mode. It is not sufficient for members to just put their phones in silent mode as this will interfere with the communications set-up here. Another point is that because we are more or less all wearing masks, we are not as easily recognised as we might think we are so the staff who are taking notes, listening in and recording have asked that we say our name before we speak, if that is okay. Second, and I apologise to Senator Currie, if someone is speaking and they do not have a microphone that we must facilitate that in some way. We will try to work that out. It is just to facilitate the recordings.