John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Many issues such as this are going around right now. The Garda Commissioner appeared before an Oireachtas committee meeting yesterday to discuss criticism from the Garda Ombudsman Commission with regard to information relating to informants. They had asked for information to be passed on from An Garda Síochána, but it was not forthcoming. There was some criticism in that regard. This has gone to the legal counsel. There may be policy issues here with regard to delineation. Obviously, there is a policy opinion in the Comptroller and Auditor General's Office and they are comfortable with that. I think there are larger policy issues when it comes to a committee such as the Committee of Public Accounts with regard to using and dealing with information. In the last few days, I have been dealing with the HSE and the Garda in my constituency. In this instance, the HSE did not share the information with the Garda, which is unbelievable considering what the actual issue is. Legal counsel deals strictly with what is prescribed by law. I think there could be policy issues with regard to the balance surrounding this. Deputy Ross pointed to that. It seems to be an issue that is growing every day in this building.