Rural Affairs Committee, 02 Nov 1999

Meeting date: Tuesday, November 2, 1999

Official Report 293KB pdf

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Scottish Parliament Rural Affairs Committee Tuesday 2 November 1999 (Afternoon)

[The Convener opened the meeting at 14:00]

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It is my pleasure to welcome everyone here to this meeting of the Rural Affairs Committee. I welcome members who are not members of the committee—Mr Jamie McGrigor and Euan Robson—who have come along because they expressed an interest in the business that we are conducting today. I invite both those gentlemen to participate in this meeting, should they want to do so.

I welcome the Deputy Minister for Rural Affairs with responsibility for fisheries, Mr John Home Robertson, who is here to give evidence on item 1. I also welcome Mr Hamish Morrison, the chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, who is also here to give evidence on item 1. Finally, I express the committee's welcome to members of the public, who are here to observe the procedures of the committee. This is the first occasion on which this committee has met in the chamber. It is an interesting experiment, and I hope that it will be a success.