Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

We will publish the Bill very shortly thereafter, before the end of the year. The reason there has been a delay in this, particularly during my time, which is what I am directly responsible for, is due to the Marper v. United Kingdom case, in which judgment was given by the European Court of Human Rights in December 2008. This raised significant issues in regard to the right of privacy, including unjustified interference with the right to privacy, which we have taken into account and which required the Bill to be reconsidered. There are significant issues in privacy and human rights in regard to the DNA database. My press statement of yesterday referred to the fact that we have secured €4.1 million in the Estimates for 2010 for development of the DNA database, and this will be spent next year.

I do not accept what the Deputy said about under-resourcing. Current authorised numbers for the laboratory are 102.5 posts-----

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