Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

All Members of the House would be of the same opinion concerning some members of the force who would attempt to use this information to harm a person or a body. It would be our intention to ensure that action should be taken against such members. The new tests which the Minister proposes in this section need to be extended. Should the same not apply to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform? What is to stop a senior or junior or any official of the Department or of any other Department, using such information in an erroneous, malicious way when that information came to him or her by way of members of the force?

I do not know the full answer to the question I pose. I have no difficulty with what the Minister proposes as a new standard for members of the force. Is it the case that other arms of the State's security system will face the same test? The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is such an arm because it functions for the Minister alone who is responsible to both Houses. Will the same criteria and provisions apply to them?

Significant amounts of information on security matters are disposed of by many people in very sensitive positions in the Minister's Department and in other Departments. If this law is applied to members of the force, does it equally apply to other civil servants, albeit those working in other areas? I do not suggest it happened on the Minister's watch but it has happened as we all know. Information has been touted and put into the public domain not only to wreck politicians but also individuals in a malicious and harmful way. Will this law apply to those in the Civil Service?