Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will conclude by stating that everyone in this House recognises the need for an independent review into the very serious allegations contained in the "Women of Honour" programme. I commend the Minister on the work he has done on that. I do not need an answer to the point I will make and that I ask the Minister to reflect on, which is that that process does not necessarily mean we should shelve the work of the fourth independent monitoring group. The Minister said the previous independent monitoring groups did very good work. The second did good work and the third, which reported in 2014, concluded that "the challenge remain[ed], to continue to improve human resource management and institutional culture including dealing with human issues of bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and discrimination". I ask the Minister to consider that this makes a very strong case for the continuation and conclusion of a fourth independent monitoring group to continue the good work it has done in the past, rather than setting it aside on the basis of his highly commendable proposal to establish an independent review group into the allegations made in the radio programme.

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