Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I think everybody is of one mind on this issue. I think this has been the case for the past number of months, although it was belated in respect of Sergeant McCabe and former Garda John Wilson. We can find ourselves in a situation in which GSOC needs to be strengthened. That is not within the gift of this committee - or, indeed, the Minister - so it places us in a slightly unusual position in which we know this is going to happen. I presume that having clarified and taken out the conditionality around the Garda Ombudsman and prescribed it in more concrete terms, it will chime with whatever legislative form the reform and strengthening of GSOC takes. I presume there will be a mirroring exercise.

I applaud not just the efforts of this Government, however belated, but also of the State to mainstream an Garda Síochána in respect of these whistle blowing protections and procedures. It is long overdue.

I want to come back to this notion of "the public interest". The Minister said correctly that this is the tipping point for the investigation of the matter. However, that does not really answer my concern. I want to know what the Minister means by "the public interest". Where is that defined? Who decides what is in the public interest? The Bill affords a level of discretion to the commission to decide what is or is not in the public interest. I would like the Minister to respond to that point. I ask him to confirm what is obviously Deputy Fleming's understanding, namely that he is going to look at the wording here with a view to making it more concrete and taking any sense of conditionality out of it.