Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Of course I raised that question with her because many colleagues in the House were asking me what precisely was meant by the fact that there could be other issues and I was concerned to know if she was referring to any specific area of concern. The information she gave me in reply was that it was by way of a more general concern or belief that other issues may emerge. Statistics and their reliability would be one of the key areas.

The Government and I have invested over €200 million in the information technology, IT, systems. We can see from what emerged at the committee meeting this morning and through this week that this area is very data rich. There is a huge issue with management of data and having appropriate systems. I am the first Minister to put together a committee with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, An Garda Síochána and the Department of Justice and Equality to make sure we give it the money to try to get the systems up to date. During the recession, it got no funds. We can see that one area of real concern is making sure An Garda Síochána has the ability to gather the data. The records it has had to go back over were paper-based. The development of the IT system is critical to managing policy and investigating crime and it is now in a better position to do that. It was general, as the Commissioner said this morning. I said when I replied to questions here on Tuesday that I was aware the audit would be coming out. I thought she might have been referring to that as well.

See this speech in context