Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

Although I could do so, I will not press the matter at this stage.

I agree with the Minister's comments regarding matters of a sensitive nature and so on. The penalties for those who are found to have abused the system in this regard must be clarified because we cannot have a situation where files go missing or are mislaid. However, in a situation where it has been announced that there will be a search of a particular Garda station, what is to prevent a person who does not want a specific file to be seen for moving it to the location where the sensitive information is stored and to which the ombudsman commission is denied access? It will be difficult to address this matter. Senator Maurice Hayes's suggestion would seem to have met the requirements in this regard.

I am mindful of what the Minister has said about the difficulties in regard to outsiders accessing documents. Where information on informers and others are concerned, such a scenario would not be desirable. Interpretation of this provision may be open to abuse. The main difficulty is the one I have mentioned in regard to a file being moved to the part of the station which is out of bounds for the ombudsman commission or the inspectors. There is nothing to stop such a file being subsequently put back in place and if a complaint is made in such an instance, the ombudsman commission may be able to obtain it at a later date. However, it should the case that there is total access or none. The notion that only part of a station can be open complicates the issue.