Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I want to make a general point. An issue with GSOC is that it is currently burdened with opaque Byzantine structures and procedures. Ms Barry from the Department acknowledged that and said the drive to correct that is part of the reason for the reforms proposed in this Bill. As such, it is not fair to accuse GSOC or imply it is incompetent especially when it, in light of our requirements for and discussion on natural justice, is not represented at the committee and cannot defend itself. It would be appropriate to consider having a third day of hearings to allow GSOC to come before the committee to speak to the allegations of incompetence and the Byzantine structures under which it is operating and where exactly those inefficiencies stem from, and for us to understand best how this Bill can correct that and improve the efficiency of any investigation system, which we would all agree is needed.