Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is one way of looking at it. From our dealings with An Garda Síochána, we saw that there was a tendency in some instances to recategorise crimes in order to make them seem less serious than they were. From the point of view of cases classified as high priority, what investigations, if any, have been carried out? I am aware of anecdotal evidence in one or two areas where there was a belief that rather than cases being dealt with, recategorisation took place in order to tidy up records and make things seem less bad. One aspect of this is the management of cases.

Another aspect is the deficit in terms of a legislative framework to deal with these issues. Dr. Geoffrey Shannon, for example, has talked about the lack of clarity in the current legislative framework in terms of dealing with abuse outside the family and has, for example, called for the amendment of section 3 of the Child Care Act so that these issues could be addressed comprehensively.

In responding to the Ombudsman's Taking Stock report, Tusla has referred to a legislative lack of clarity. Are any changes proposed to address the oversight of cases being potentially reclassified and the legislative deficit?

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