David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 46:

In page 55, line 1, to delete “or 29” and substitute “,29or 30”.

I will first withdraw amendment No. 46 because it is a technical amendment and some of the issues were discussed earlier.

Amendment No. 47 provides that HIQA may be the prosecuting body under the Act for the provisions that relate to it. As the Minister will be aware, some incidents might not be a priority for the Garda or other bodies. Obviously, not all incidents are referred on to An Garda Síochána. HIQA is the expert and regulatory body in the context of these incidents and it should be the body that is able to prosecute offences under the Act.

The amendment also provides for the Minister to prescribe a body, whether that is HIQA or another body, to prosecute under various sections of the Act as may be appropriate and, where such an alternative body is not prescribed, to ensure it falls by default to An Garda Síochána. The purpose of the amendment is to ensure that where incidents are not reported to An Garda Síochána and it does not fall to it to prosecute, it appropriately falls to HIQA or another body as prescribed by the Minister to do so under the Act. That would be an appropriate way to deal with these issues. I will be pressing the amendment. Obviously, I am interested to hear the response of the Minister.