Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1.

In page 27, lines 25 to 27, to delete all words from and including “(1) The” in line 25 down to and including line 27 and substitute the following: “(1) The DNA (Military Police) Database System shall be used only for the following purposes:

(a) the investigation and prosecution of an offence against military law, whether committed within or outside the State;

(b) the facilitation of the performance by the Committee (within the meaning of the Act of 2014) of its functions under Part 9 of the Act of 2014 in relation to the management and operation of that System;

(c) the automated searching of certain DNA profiles in that System in accordance with Chapter 2 of Part 12 of the Act of 2014;

(d) the automated comparison of certain DNA profiles in that System with other DNA profiles in accordance with Chapter 2 of Part 12 of the Act of 2014.”.

In regard to the amendments, they are all technical amendments. There were no objections on Second Stage of this Bill but we have six technical amendments, some of which are clubbed together. They are all recommendations coming from the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel and I will go through each of them in turn.

Amendment No. 1 is a drafting technical amendment which has been brought forward following a review of the current wording of this section of the Bill by the Parliamentary Counsel. The amendment clarifies the purpose for which the DNA Military Police database system may be used. The amendment ensures the wording of this section is consistent with provisions elsewhere in legislation, in other words how the Garda does things. As provided for in the amendment, the DNA Military Police database system may be used for the following purposes: (a) the investigation and prosecution of an offence against military law; (b) to facilitate the DNA database system oversight committee to carry out its functions, which were established under the Criminal Justice (Forensic Evidence and DNA Database System) Act 2014 and will be extended under section 83 of this Bill to enable the committee to oversee the operation of the new DNA Military Police system; and (c) to facilitate the State's obligations under the Prüm Council decision in regard to the automated searching and comparison of DNA profiles held in the DNA Military Police system on foot of requests from other states. Part 11 of the Bill includes the detailed provisions concerning this matter. In summary, this is a drafting amendment which has been recommended by the Parliamentary Counsel to ensure there is consistency between the wording of this section and the Bill as a whole.