Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We were discussing amendments Nos. 40 and 41 and I have already made most of the points I wished to make. There are relatively small but significant differences between the amendment I have proposed and what the Minister is proposing. In an earlier draft of the Bill that we discussed on Committee Stage, if the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission was to be the prescribed body for dealing with complaints from gardaí under the legislation and if the matter was in the public interest, the Bill provided that GSOC "may" if it so chooses, carry out an investigation. My amendment, No. 41, provides that GSOC be prescribed, with no ifs, buts or maybes about it and that if a matter is reported to the commission by a member of the Garda Síochána that was in the public interest to investigate, then GSOC "shall" rather than "may" carry out such an investigation. My amendment does not give the commission discretion or enable it to sweep something under the carpet, particularly when it is in the public interest. The Minister has come back with a revised amendment following our Committee Stage debate which reads that the Minister "may" by order, prescribe GSOC as the recipient body. However, he does not deal with the issue of requiring GSOC to investigate matters that are in the public interest. His amendment falls short of what I had sought to achieve.

In my earlier remarks before this debate was adjourned, I asked that the Minister give me a definite date by which he will prescribe GSOC - by way of statutory instrument presumably. Perhaps he will say he can do it next Wednesday or that the Department is already working on it. Sometimes when legislation is passed, the statutory instruments are ready to roll immediately while other times they take a number of days, weeks or even months. Can Minister tell me whether he will have the relevant statutory instrument laid before the Oireachtas within seven or 14 days? I seek a commitment on an exact date.

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