Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I just want to set the record straight on the Minister's liaison with my office, and to acknowledge my staff's work. The liaison between my office and the Department on the Coroners (Amendment) Bill 2017 has been driven by my office, and fair play to my assistants for constantly sitting on the Department and making sure that it is not forgotten about. I do not accept that as a great bonus. It has tied us in a huge amount of work, chasing something that should have been delivered by now. The Minister can answer by talking about challenges, complexities and issues being examined, but we know they are challenging and complex. That is why we have come up with recommendations concerning all of them as a committee. We wanted to hear from the Minister how they are being implemented, and not excuses about why they are not being implemented, which is a key feature. Regarding the pre-action protocols, the Department circulated a draft set of proposals but that was months ago. They have not been implemented yet. One of our key points is that the Department of Justice and Equality clearly operates in a different time zone to most other people when it comes to delivering change. Something has to give on that. It is a feature of every legislative issue, and victims are suffering as a result of that delay.

Regarding the Garda, we touched on some issues last night in the debate on the appointment of the new Garda Commissioner. I refer to the Bill we recommended as part of our 2016 report that would give the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, more powers. Where is the Bill that was promised 18 months ago? The Minister keeps telling us he has been pushing it, but we have not seen it yet. I also refer to the business case that GSOC submitted for additional resources more than four months ago. That does not seem to have been decided upon. Where is that at the moment?