Mr. Justice Alan Mahon:

In general, I have had excellent co-operation from the Department and from the Defence Forces. On an almost daily basis, I have been looking for information documentation from both organisations and I tend to get this very quickly. I have never been refused any co-operation. Between my office and the Defence Forces there is a Defence Forces liaison officer who deals with requests for further information that come from my office. I consider that liaison office to be highly efficient. I have never run into any difficulty in getting additional information. As the Senator is aware, the power I have is to make recommendations when I issue a report. Those recommendations lead to the Minister. In 2020 I had 12 recommendations. In that year I issued 25 reports and the 12 recommendations. All of those have been accepted by the Minister. In 2021 I made 15 recommendations and a number of those been accepted. There is a bit of time between making the recommendation and it getting accepted because often the Minister would have to discuss it with the Defence Forces, including perhaps how to implement something that I am recommending. Certainly, in 2020, which was the last full year, 12 recommendations were made and 12 were accepted. I could not expect better than that.