Willie O'Dea (Limerick East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for tabling these amendments. The difficulty is that some states will accept communications and requests from the Garda Commissioner while others will not. Section 2 provides that the Commissioner will be the competent authority in Ireland for the purposes of the Bill but that where the competent authority of another member state requires that requests in relation to the establishment of a joint investigation team should be made or received through a judicial authority, the Minister, not the Garda Commissioner, will be the competent authority in such cases.