Section 40C, a requirement to furnish information and documents, and section 40D, the Minister may share information and documents in certain circumstances, are the ones that are most relevant to the work of the independent review group. The purpose of section 40C is to require the executive to provide information or documents to the Minister. It provides that the Minister can, where he or she considers it necessary, in the public interest, for the performance of his or her functions, require the executive to provide him or her, with any information or documents in its possession or control that he or she specifies. The section lifts existing legal prohibitions in any enactment or rule of law which would prevent the provision of the information and documents concerned in areas such as consent requirements, non-disclosure or confidentiality provisions and in camera rules. The requirement must be complied with by the executive within the time specified by the Minister and in any event without delay. The Bill only lifts the in camera rule for the purposes of allowing information to flow from the HSE to the Minister which means that the rule continues to be of full force and effect on the Minister in terms of publications. The requirement to satisfy the public interest test is a further safeguard. That is why we see this provision as creating a "safe channel of communication" for sensitive information to pass from the HSE to the Minister.

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