Seanad debates
Tuesday, 9 December 2003
Independent Monitoring Commission Bill 2003: Second Stage.
We will deal with the substance of the Bill on Committee Stage but I want to ask the Minster two questions during this debate, the first of which is on the issue of information. First, the Minister rightly said that one of the sections that deals with this aspect gives power to the Garda Síochána to give information to this commission but as I understand it, in the context of Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, we, as a sovereign State, cannot give information to bodies outside the police force in Northern Ireland. In other words, we cannot give information to the ombudsman's office in Northern Ireland because it is not a police force. Will the Minister refer to that when replying to the debate because as I understand it, any information sought by one police authority from another on activities of individuals cannot be obtained by an institution other than a police authority, in other words, an ombudsman?
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