Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would be happy to pursue this matter further. While I am concerned, I am also confident that the Department of Justice and Equality has taken important lessons from its experiences over the past year. The new measures that are actively being put in place by the Department are aimed at ensuring an oversight of any kind cannot happen in the future. These plans were referred to and endorsed by Mr. Michael Collins SC in his report, which was published last month. I listened to Deputy Kelly when he spoke on certain aspects of that report. These new measures include the use of specialist IT consultants where needed for discovery and the establishment of a separate unit to interact with tribunals and commissions. Mr. Collins's report points to the absence of a systematic system for filing emails in the Department. This is under review. A review of parliamentary questions relating to Sergeant Maurice McCabe was undertaken by the Department and published in January. A search of approximately 30 million emails, which was undertaken by an external IT company, ultimately resulted in the identification of 79 additional documents of potential relevance, many of which related to the drafting of a single statement. The review also noted that the search provides an appropriate degree of confidence that the Department of Justice and Equality has identified and supplied all material of potential relevance to the Disclosures Tribunal. The Department is engaging constructively with the effectiveness and renewal group, which has been asked to take account of this review and its findings in its ongoing work.

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