David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I agree with some of what the Minister said. The difficulty we have, as committee members, is that we can only do our job from our perspective. We made it very clear in the early stages of our work on this Bill that there were issues for the Joint Committee on Justice and other committees but we can only do our work. That is why, when I crafted the amendment, its purpose was that whatever regulations we were seeking to introduce, or that the Minister would have the power to introduce, it would have to be done in consultation with the Minister for Justice. I take the Minister's point that this is, in the main, an operational issue but it is fundamental to the delivery of the intent of the Bill. That is the problem.

I hear what he is saying in regard to the mandatory recording in the Bill and I understand the comments he has made. I will press the amendment but I will not put it to a vote, although other members have a choice to make on what they do. Given what the Minister has said, I still believe we need to do more. It might be the case in the future that we have a centralised recording system but that may not happen. What we do not want is to have a Bill in place and then find there are all of these loopholes and that we had an opportunity to fix those loopholes but did not take it. I am just putting that on the record.