Ciarán Cannon (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, to the House and thank him and his colleague, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coughlan, for the spirit of co-operation that has endured throughout the debate on this legislation. Fine Gael welcomes the amendment that seeks to attach greater urgency to the process whereby documents are separated and decisions are taken as to what documentation is incriminating and what is not. It also welcomes the inclusion of the three-month limit because the party was concerned the phrase, "as far as is practicable", somehow left it open-ended. People's past experiences of dealing with public bodies suggested that efficiency and urgency in dealing with certain issues was not always a hallmark of such bodies. Fine Gael is pleased with this three-month limit as well as the seven-day limit that will be imposed upon the director's office in returning material that is deemed not to be incriminating.

I also suggest that Fine Gael's concern in respect of the Data Protection Acts has been addressed somewhat by these amendments in that they allow, in some cases, hearings to take place away from public scrutiny. Fine Gael had expressed concerns that sensitive personal information held in company records might inadvertently find its way into the public domain. Again, the amendment proposed by the Government in this regard goes a long way towards addressing this and I again thank the Minister of State.