Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Fleming is right. We had a fairly long discussion on this amendment on Committee Stage. I did not accept it then and, on reflection, I believe I was right. In the event that the disclosure of the recipient determines that he or she should pass on information to the appropriate officeholder, I am satisfied that that information, by virtue of the requirements of section 18 of the Bill, is likely to be of such importance to the security of the State that its publication would not in any event be appropriate. The main reasoning behind the disclosure of such information to the disclosures recipient is that it would not be in the public domain, so it would run counter to that to require a reporting of it. What needs to be done is that an action would be taken by the officeholder regarding it, and I presume that would be pursued in the normal way by way of parliamentary question by Members of the House.

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