Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

The instrument is not in the legislation. It will follow the legislation. The Minister will have the power, under his seal of office, to introduce the instrument once the Bill is signed by the President. He has already confirmed regarding the term "not exceeding" that it is conceivable under the legislation, when it is in place, that the Government could appoint someone for a five-year period. That is not good. This is a new area of legislation which has been in place only since the early 1980s. Much of the knowledge we have built up illustrates that, if anything, investigations take a very long time. It is important for an ombudsman to know he or she has a seven-year term, although it would not be a problem if he or she wanted to resign after three years. There are absolute guarantees in the legislation regarding that and the Government can make a new appointment.

However, there is no discretion given in the legislation regarding section 2(5). It is not specific enough and I would ask the Minister to re-examine this. I am playing devil's advocate in suggesting a scenario that could arise where an ombudsman comes across a practice within the Defence Forces that he or she is working hard to bring to our attention and resolve, and a vested interest contacts him or her and makes life very difficult, knowing that he or she is not guaranteed a seven-year period. I would be happier if the contents of the instrument to which the Minister has referred were put into the body of the Bill. If the Minister were on this side of the House, which is pretty rare these days, he would say the same. He would want to see the details in the Bill rather than in instruments that are introduced later. It is always a bellyaching point from those of us on the Opposition benches that most of the powers that exist regarding primary legislation follow in statutory instruments.

I ask the Minister to re-examine this issue, to be brave and to do the right thing. He will not be trampling on his predecessor who now has more time to traipse around the beautiful countryside of Tipperary. If anything he will be building on his legacy and doing something very unique in the legislation before us.