Shane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Do not exaggerate the problem. The Deputy is right that it is a problem. It was acknowledged and identified as a problem last week. I met with the Minister, Deputy Coveney, the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister for Health. If I am wrong, it could have been with officials. There have been so many meetings. The three Departments certainly got together to address the problem that some locator forms were being missed and the reasons for it were being investigated. They wanted to look at whether this should be voluntary or mandatory, because it was not mandatory beforehand. People were for some reason not filling in forms or not handing them in. It might have been because some of them were being handed to them by the airlines and airports at the point of departure, not the point of arrival. It might be because some of them were not handing the forms out. I am not suggesting that but it is possible. Proposals are due shortly about the possibility of making it mandatory for people to fill these forms in, so that the gardaí can follow-up, make telephone calls and do spot checks, so that it can be absolutely certain that this is being enforced. I am not sure that there is a bad reason. If they are not getting the forms, they will obviously not fill them in. The Deputy is quite right that some were not filling them in but it is being addressed.

See this speech in context