Ms Clare Tiernan:

On reporting to the Garda, certain offences were already set out in legislation introduced in 2024. These are in the rape, sexual assault and serious sexual assault space. That is already provided for in legislation. If we are talking about an individual notifying his or her commanding officer that he or she is under investigation or charged or before the courts, it is to his or her commanding officer that he or she will be reporting. The heads, as set out here, also make regulation enabling provisions so that the specifics of how that is managed, while ensuring fair procedures, are set out in regulation. It is very clear for a commanding officer if something is reported to him or her what his or her options are, how he or she addresses it, and how he or she takes it forward.