Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I move amendment No. 37:

In page 14, lines 20 to 21, to delete "The Referee may, on his or her own initiative, also investigate" and substitute the following:

"(11) The Referee—

(a) may, on his or her own initiative, and

(b) shall, where a case has been referred to him or her by the designated judge under section 12(8),

investigate".

Section 11(11) allows the complaints referee to investigate a relevant contravention in respect of the Bill, on his or her own initiative. Section 12 provides for the designation of a High Court judge to provide judicial oversight of the Bill. These amendments allow the designated judge in the course of an investigation under subsection (12)(4) to refer a case for investigation to the complaints referee where he or she is of the opinion that it would be in the interests of justice to do so. They provide that where such a referral is made the referee must investigate the matter. The Bill already allows the referee to report a matter to the designated judge. In this amendment, the referral by the designated judge to the referee was suggested by the Irish Human Rights Commission in that body's observations on the Bill. These amendments will build on the safeguards we already have in the Bill.

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