Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I accept that someone, in bad faith, could raise an objection to introduce me as arbiter and to avail of that time to conceal or destroy information. That possibility has to be balanced against the other possibility that if immediate access is granted as of right to avoid that risk, the State's secrets will be available, in effect, to all inspectors operating under the mandate of the ombudsman commission. When the time comes to strike that balance, one has to choose between two slightly competing rights, neither of which is ideal. In an ideal world, one would love the commission's officials to go straight in without any question. One would hope that confidence would be maintained if the officials found anything confidential. We have created this architecture in a certain way for that reason. It is fairly unlikely that there will be surprise raids on parts of Garda stations in which security material is available. Section 81 provides for processes and procedures which require the Garda Commissioner to secure the premises in such circumstances.