Ms Niamh Ní Charra:

I thank the Deputy for posing that question. Dr. Casey has covered much of the detail on the independent body but essentially what we need is a body that can investigate claims, that is independent, neutral, and not linked to any other bodies that provide or make decisions on funding, which have enough to be doing, frankly. Furthermore, as has been mentioned by Ms Ní Nualláin and by Dr. Casey, we have spent four years getting disclosures. We should not be the ones getting them. It should be very obvious to people who to report to when they have something to report. The body should have the power to investigate, and if the protected disclosure is upheld, it should be in a position to impose sanctions. There should be consequences.

Perhaps funding could be blocked until whomever has had a complaint against him or her has had a chance to address it. We have been passing people who come in and make complaints to us over to the Garda or we refer them to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre. We have also talked to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI. However, again, it is all about having a whistleblowing mechanism where people can make these complaints. There are examples of this already in existence elsewhere; the Central Bank and the Office of Director of Corporate Enforcement have systems. These things are not unknowns; they have been done before. If it is at the most serious end of the spectrum where it is criminal, it gets passed on and there are consequences to that. As Deputy Munster pointed out, sections 35 to 43 of the briefing document that we sent lay all of that out. It also brings in the idea of dispute resolution in order that we can bring about change and correct behaviour.

Individuals and organisations should be in a position where they can check if a person they are about to hire or collaborate with has been reported against, with the report being upheld, or if that person is on a register. All of that is important in terms of the funding being asked. As for funding or an idea of money, we are looking at many different recommendations, all of which need funding to resource, but €200,000 is the figure the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, mentioned. If you employ a counsellor or a legal representative, a lot of that money suddenly has been eaten up already. There are many different areas where we need funding. We need funding for training, we need funding for further research and we need various Departments to use their funding as well. For example, the Department of Justice has mentioned to us in FairPlé the idea of an awareness campaign. Those are a few examples.