Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Bríd Smith for tabling the amendments. We had a good discussion about this on Committee Stage and we will discuss it again now.

I acknowledge Deputy Bacik's long-standing advocacy. Many of us were involved in that referendum, but in fairness to Deputy Bacik, she has significant standing and history of advocacy and work over many years.

The first amendment seeks to give An Garda Síochána the ability, other than in writing, to record warnings, that is, digitally and so forth. The advice I was given is that "in writing" covers all of that. Whether a garda writes it in a notebook, writes it down electronically or notes it on a phone or electronic device, it is all covered. The issue of warnings came from the committee. It was not in the original Bill. The report I received from the committee recommended this. The committee had a thoughtful debate on the fact it wanted these warnings to be written down. In a way, we have already amended the Bill to add this section. I acknowledge the considered work of the committee in arriving at a place where these warnings will be recorded. We all accept they will be recorded. The additional point Deputies Smith and Shortall made is that they are not recorded centrally because there is no centralised system to do so at the moment. I have no doubt that if and when the systems An Garda Síochána has available are expanded to this area, it would be facilitated. The clear advice I was given, as per our discussion on Committee Stage, was that the amendment is not necessary as this is an operational matter for An Garda Síochána. It would not necessarily be covered by regulation. It is something An Garda Síochána would do as part of its day-to-day operations, for example, by expanding the PULSE system.

Second, as discussed on Committee Stage, I have received clear advice that it would not be appropriate for any Minister for Health to put in place detailed operational regulations for An Garda Síochána, in the same way that we would not want any Minister for Justice to put in place regulations around patient safety issues or such matters. Health regulations are a matter for the Minister for Health. Therefore, it is not appropriate for a Minister for Health to include these.

We had a useful discussion at a committee meeting when Deputy Smith and other colleagues asked how we will check whether this is a problem. An Garda Síochána does not believe it will be a problem. I do not believe it will be a problem, but I fully accept that we want to look at it, because on the back of the committee's recommendation, this is a new thing An Garda Síochána will be doing. We will come to this in subsequent amendments, but on the back of our proceedings on Committee Stage, I have tabled a new amendment on a review and that review could also encompass this. If there are any issues with it - I do not believe there will be but I am open to the fact that there may be - they will be included in a review. If matters were then brought to the Minister for Justice of the day, they could act and say we need to regulate this or update the PULSE system or take whatever actions might come out of that review. I know the amendments were tabled in absolute good faith to try to have the best possible system.

I believe the rationale being put forward for why I cannot accept these amendments is solid but, at the same time, I want to leave the door open. This has not happened previously. A safe access zone has never been provided for in Ireland and these sorts of warnings have never been put in place under statute. We are leaving open, therefore, a review of that within a pretty short period. I tried to reflect the committee discussions on what that period might be, and Deputies will see that 18 months is what I am proposing.

For those reasons, I cannot accept the amendments, but I fully understand and appreciate the concern Deputy Smith is looking to address.

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