Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I do not disagree with the rationale or the intent. It comes down to two issues. One is a practical point, which is that the gardaí themselves do not have a system for this. I imagine that this will evolve over time and they will have a system in time, and I imagine it will then be recorded centrally over time. However, regardless of anything we put into this Bill now, they could not actually do it. That is the first issue.

The second is the point that I have just made to Deputy Cullinane, which is that I have very clear advice in this regard. Of course, I take the point that we are giving the Garda powers, setting out the law and setting out offences. However, the very clear advice I have is that in terms of how warnings would be recorded, centralised and viewed, they are really more in the operational space of An Garda Síochána and it is just not appropriate for a Minister for Health to be in that space. As I said, I do not disagree with the sentiments and it is why we now have a very clear written warning being recorded. We listened very carefully to the committee proceedings.

When we come to the Deputy’s amendment, I have a counterproposal we can discuss, which is to bring in something on Report Stage. Whatever the time limit is, if we do a review - I am very open to putting in something that is slightly broader than what is proposed - this could, of course, be included. If it were identified that people were essentially gaming the system and receiving multiple warnings around the country which were not being recorded, that is something that could be acted on. That might be a practical way to keep an eye on exactly the concern that the Deputy has raised.