Derek McDowell (Labour)

This is the provision to which I referred on which I got such a hammering in regard to transparency in the other House. The purpose of the new section is to enable the Commissioner to issue guidelines for, among other things, the information of the public, on the practical application of firearms and the manner in which the law is administered by the Garda Síochána.

Guidelines for the information of the public will be published but the guidelines may also be used to inform and instruct members of the Garda Síochána on the application and administration of the firearms legislation and also to outline uniform standards and approaches to the application of the law. I have no problem about that information going into the public domain either. This was the point I made in the other House for which I got a very short shrift.