Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

When the Bill went through this House several Members expressed their doubts on the three-person commission. The same doubts were expressed in the Dáil. The Minister has come some way by suggesting that a chairman of the commission should be appointed, but I believe this is a fudge. The Minister and the public know this. There is a demand for a Nuala O'Loan type figure to investigate wrongdoing within the Garda Síochána.

The strength of single independent ombudsman was demonstrated again last week by Kevin Murphy, the former State Ombudsman, when he criticised the failure to allocate political responsibility with regard to the nursing home scandal. The revelations arising from the second report of the Morris tribunal demand that a single, powerful, independent ombudsman be appointed to monitor the Garda Síochána. A three-person body, even with a chairman, remains a fudge.

The Minister has gone on record as saying that a single ombudsman would pose a problem were he or she to go on holiday. We have a single Ombudsman in Emily O'Reilly, in the children's ombudsman, Emily Logan, a single information commissioner, a single insurance ombudsman, a single data protection commissioner, one director of corporate enforcement and one Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, yet the Minister says that a single Garda ombudsman would be unworkable and unacceptable. That argument does not stand up in the circumstances. We need a single exemplary person, like Nuala O'Loan, unfettered and free to act in the public interest.

A number of the amendments put forward are technical and we agree with them. We are pleased that a number of the observations made by our spokesperson in the Dáil, Deputy Jim O'Keeffe, have been taken on board. We support the situation where, if a complaint is made against a garda, he or she should be notified of it. On the matter of a referee, we do not know the Minister's ability as a referee, but we accept his bona fides as regards the security of the State.

Senator Brian Hayes will deal with some specific matters. Fine Gael still believes that we should have one ombudsman rather than a commission.