Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The amendment specifies that we are only talking about other statutory authorities that have the power to investigate or prosecute criminal offences or both. The amendment says that. The Minister of State is right. That is what it is but organisations like HIQA and the Health and Safety Authority have those powers. There are probably not loads of cases, although there might be. There are plenty of cases where the victim is a person. They are out there. It would bring us much more in line with the directive were we to broaden the definition because it is broader in the directive. The European Commission justice guidelines talk about how the term "competent authority" is broader than that of "law enforcement authority". Those guidelines refer to how the competent authorities acting in the criminal proceedings under the directive are determined by national law. The guidelines say that this does not exclude, for example, customs or border agencies if they have the status of law enforcement authorities. There are a number of agencies that have power in criminal cases and they should be included.