Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

We use the term "public interest" often but I do not think I have ever seen it defined in legislation, either British or Irish, because it is very hard to nail down what we mean by it. However, we do know what the concept means. In essence, we want to have a robust, investigative body. I must be careful in what I say but I do not think we can be confident at this very minute that we have one. I think I am safe in saying that. We need to refurbish the legislative capacity of GSOC and probably more than its legislative capacity but that is not a job for us in this committee or for me in my Ministry but GSOC is an important part of the protected disclosures regime. Indeed, GSOC is a body which will be pivotal to that regime and we will all have something to say about that as it develops.

If a member of an Garda Síochána passed on a piece of evidence or a disclosure that was fully protected under this regime but it was not properly investigated, he or she could then legitimately bring it to a Deputy to have it aired elsewhere. It is not as if we are putting it into a cul-de-sac that ends it.