Mr. Mark Kelly:

I think we are at a critical juncture. Deputy Farrell used that term in his introduction. Since early February, barely a week has gone by without some new allegation or some new review being set up. The Deputy and I had a previous exchange about this. The ICCL feels very strongly that when we look at the judicial inquiry that is to be set up under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004 in response to the Guerin report, the terms of reference of that inquiry should be as comprehensive as possible. Our position was that this should have happened when the allegations of GSOC bugging first emerged but it did not happen and we got the Cooke report. We said the same thing when the whistleblower dossier was handed over by the leader of the Opposition to the Taoiseach. It has not happened and we have seen the cataclysmic effect of giving piecemeal terms of reference for very specific facts. I hope that the process of reflection that I understand is now ongoing in Government about what the terms of reference should be arising from the Guerin report, which I welcome, will lead to a set of terms of reference with appropriate judicial powers of a fully independent nature that will look at a full spectrum of accountability issues. It is extremely important that this happens. It is important that this happens not so as to put a cap on further things that will emerge but in order that an effective mechanism is in place in which people could have confidence during this difficult transition period to the institution of new accountability mechanisms.