I remind members and those in the Gallery that all mobile phones should be switched off for the duration of the meeting. I extend apologies on behalf of Deputies Naughten and Ó Caoláin, who cannot be here today. I welcome, cuirim fáilte roimh, the members from the Northern Ireland Assembly committee dealing with health, social services and public safety. I welcome everybody to our Houses and this committee: chairperson, Ms Sue Ramsey, MLA; the vice chairperson, Mr. Jim Wells, MLA; Mr. John McCallister, MLA; Mr. Mark Durkan, MP, MLA; Mr. Sam Gardiner, MLA; Mr. Mickey Brady, MLA; and Mr. Kieran McCarthy MLA. I also welcome Dr. Kathryn Bell, clerk to committee, and Mr. Mark McQuade, assistant clerk.
I thank everybody for making the effort to come down and I hope this meeting will be the beginning of a series of meetings between the committees. It is important that we work on cross-Border co-operation in health matters. I acknowledge and thank the Institute of Public Health in Ireland for making a detailed submission to the joint committee on this matter. Members of our committee have been given a copy of that presentation and I thank Mr. Owen Metcalfe, Dr. Helen McAvoy and Ms Arlene McKay from the institute.
North-South co-operation is very important and there are currently two pertinent matters at the level of the North-South Ministerial Council and joint departmental projects. I hope we can add a new interparliamentary strand. Currently there are a number of collaborative projects which have been progressed by both Departments dealing with health, and the collaboration has been very good. Just last month we saw the Irish Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, and the Northern Ireland Minister, Mr. Poots, involved with a task force on obesity. I thank our members for being present and they are welcome to join us for lunch at the conclusion of today's meeting.
It gives me great pleasure to ask Ms Sue Ramsey, MLA, to address the meeting. I should advise those present that they are protected by absolute privilege in respect of evidence and remarks given to the committee. If you are directed by the committee to cease making remarks on a particular matter and continue to do so, you are entitled thereafter only to a qualified provision in respect of your remarks. You are directed that only comments or evidence relating to the subject matter of this meeting are to be given. You are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that where possible we should not criticise or make charges against a member of either House of the Oireachtas or a person outside the House or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. I apologise for the legalese.