David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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We have our own proposals based on the report to Government that was approved last March to set up a totally independent statutory authority with a lot more power and responsibility than that contained in the 2013 proposal, which we also debated here when I was Chairman of this committee. Since then, we have looked at it again. As I said at the beginning, we looked at what has happened in almost all other EU countries. They have an independent statutory authority with the teeth, power and resources to really get to grips with this. We are of the view that an office in the Department of Justice and Equality would not do the business. This is why we have changed it completely, which is why it has taken this long to get to where we are. The report has been published and the next thing is to bring forward heads of Bill, which we will send to this committee for members' comments. As I said earlier, I am very anxious to move on this as quickly as I can. I am frustrated that it has taken this long.