no Gaz, it wont damage anything. im assuming the panel was put in in the first place to quieten it down!
Ciaran, with yours you need to remove the base of the box from the engine bay, its held on by a rubber band thingy at each corner
once you have the base out then pull the tube out from the front of the box, youll need a bit of brute force, i even used a screw driver to lever it out
then just put the base back in and reconnect everything, and leave the filter in
also, look at getting an aftermarket panel filter such as a K&N or PiperX