Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The conduct pillar was also mentioned. It is important to stress again that this involves not just women accessing services but also their partners, friends and family. The legislation needs to cover that too.

On Garda powers, the question around using "shall" or "may" was outlined and the Department is still deciding on this point. There is a big gap in this regard. My concern in respect of reporting is that gardaí work different shifts. One garda might be working on Wednesday and then a different garda could be on duty on Thursday. Continuity is an issue if this is going to happen. I am not sure how to legislate for that, but I assume, regarding the issue of using "shall" or "may", that if the role of the Garda is to take this information, that will strengthen this element. That is the discussion the Department is still having.