David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank you all for coming here today. I apologise for having to leave in the middle of the meeting, but I was needed in the Dáil. This is an extremely serious and important matter. We will be sending these transcripts and the associated material to the Minister and to the Department to urge them to advance this issue. We are nearing the end of this Dáil, unfortunately. We do not know how long is left in it. This is certainly something that has to be taken up and moved on. There is no doubt about that. I thank the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions, Deputy Mac Lochlainn, for proposing that we have a joint meeting of his committee and the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. This is the first time the two committees have come together in this Dáil. It is something we need to do a bit more of. I think this has been the Dáil of committees because there has been so much work going on in committees and so many people have come to the justice committee and the other committees. It is a way of working, getting things done and engaging with experts like the witnesses who are in attendance today. We really appreciate that they have given up their valuable time, which is important to them, to come here today and help us with this issue. I hope we will see results at the end of this process.