Robbie Gallagher (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and I thank the witnesses for coming here this afternoon. It has been very useful, albeit somewhat confusing, from my perspective. I am assuming that the starting point for us all here is that we would like to give gardaí every assistance possible in the investigation of crime. I think we are all on the same page in that regard.

That said, we want to do it in a way that is lawful and completely above board. It is somewhat concerning that we have got to where we are today with legislation that the data protection people have concerns with. Mr. McGarr and Ms Cronin have raised issues here that go as far as to say that it is not compatible with EU law. That is very concerning. Following on from the previous speaker in talking about the merits of pre-legislative scrutiny, this afternoon proves that there is always a strong need for it. When I have finished, will someone from the Department make a comment? From a lay person's perspective, I would take it as a given that whatever legislation is drawn up would have the imprimatur from the data protection people at stage 1, so to speak. It concerns me that this is not the case.

There seems to be a bit of confusion, or perhaps a difference of opinion, regarding whatever data is currently out there and the merits or otherwise, of it. I do not know who has the overriding voice in relation to it and who determines who is right and who is wrong regarding the information we have been given this afternoon. From our perspective, we are trying to get a complete handle on it from the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, and from Mr. O'Sullivan's perspective. He talked about the 22,000 hours of footage that would equate to 916 days for individuals to go through. lf the legislation we are discussing was invoked could we get a very rough estimate as to how many person hours would be involved in going through that 22,000 hours of footage? How beneficial would it be from a manpower perspective?

I would like the point about the range of offences which Ms Parau raised to be expanded upon. I certainly agree with that. What are the Commissioner's thoughts on the matter? I will pose those questions for starters.