Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 62:

In page 55, line 37, to delete “section.”.” and substitute the following: “section.

(9) (a) The Commissioner shall, as soon as practicable but not later than 4 months after the end of each year, cause a report on the performance of his or her functions under this Act (in this subsection referred to as the ‘annual report’) to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and may, from time to time, cause to be laid before each such House such other reports with respect to those functions as he or she thinks fit.

(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), if, but for this paragraph, the first annual report would relate to a period of less than 6 months, the first annual report shall relate to that period and to the year immediately following that period and shall be made as soon as practicable, but not later than 4 months after the end of that year.

(c) An annual report shall include information in such form and regarding such matters as the Commissioner thinks fit or as the Minister may direct.

(d) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as requiring the Commissioner to include information the inclusion of which would, in the opinion of the Commissioner, be likely to prejudice the performance of his or her functions under this Act.”.”.

This amendment provides for a new provision in section 29 for the protected disclosures commissioner to make an annual report on the operation of the legislation. This was proposed by the Ombudsman's office and is in line with the practice that has applied to the other bodies within the ombudsman family, that is, the Ombudsman, the Information Commissioner, the registrar of lobbying, the Standards in Public Office Commission and so on. It also implements recommendation 42 of the pre-legislative scrutiny report. It will be a significant help to us in getting better information and data on how the system is operating and on how protected disclosures are being dealt with. The introduction of annual reporting is an important reform.