Public Petitions Committee, 27 Mar 2000

Meeting date: Monday, March 27, 2000

Official Report 360KB pdf

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Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee Monday 27 March 2000 (Afternoon)

[The Convener opened the meeting at 14:06]

Good afternoon. I welcome everyone to the sixth meeting this year of the Public Petitions Committee. This is the first meeting of the committee outside the Edinburgh Parliament. We have received apologies from Pauline McNeill and Helen Eadie is not here, but we hope that she will make it before the end of the meeting.

The committee is delighted to be here in the Borders. We are even more delighted by the amazing turnout of members of the public to watch our business this afternoon. Without a word being uttered, the strength of feeling about the Borders rail link is already obvious to all members of the committee who are present. [Applause.] That was a special round of applause for Helen Eadie, who has just come in late. [Laughter.]

I welcome to the committee our fellow MSPs Euan Robson, Ian Jenkins, Gil Paterson and Murray Tosh. In another first, I welcome to the committee Archy Kirkwood MP and Michael Moore MP. They will make history this afternoon by being the first Westminster MPs to speak to a committee of the Scottish Parliament; and we look forward to their participation. We also extend a warm welcome to the convener of Scottish Borders Council and to everyone else who is here.