Joe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Prior to this meeting there was a private meeting of the committee with the Minister at which there was very open debate. At that meeting, the Minister gave an assurance that he would make a public statement today to confirm that the Clinch report would be published, that the findings and recommendations set out in that report would be implemented with in the lifetime of this Government and that substantial work will be done this year. It is very disappointing that to date the Clinch report has not been published. It is with the Department since July 2021. Work on it began last March. On foot of a recommendation of this committee, Captain Clinch was asked to compile this report. What are being cited are legal issues.

A series of different reports have recommended a fundamental reform of this area. The first report was in 1988. It was followed by the Róisín Lacey report in 2010, of which I and other members of the Oireachtas have received copies. I received mine in the past number of days. It is a frightening read in terms of what is being sought by us and people vested in this area. That report has identified the need for independence, competence and a full-time investigation unit. The Bill before us does not address any of those issues, which is really disappointing.

The committee undertook in-depth pre-legislative scrutiny of this Bill last January, during which we heard expert opinion from the maritime lawyer, Mr. Michael Kingston and also from Mr. Ciaran McCarthy. There is compelling evidence that we are not up to scratch in this country in terms of this area. Why are we not implementing reports drafted in good faith by people who were employed by the State? The Clinch report is the third of these reports. I do not know what we are at. This committee would be better served if the Clinch report was published. We should hold off on this legislation and implement the recommendations of the Clinch report. If we did so, we could then move forward with a substantive Bill.

I take the Minister on good faith. He said to us at that meeting a couple of weeks ago that he would make a public statement and that he would confirm in the Houses of the Oireachtas that he is determined to publish the Clinch report and implement the recommendations. I call on him to do that today.