Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

I agree with the Senator. I hope that what I have said today will receive some publicity; he can be assured it will be publicised. Of course, the provision does not apply to every bit of tittle-tattle, it refers to information that will provide, in the phraseology of the Bill, material assistance to the Garda in either preventing the commission of one of scheduled crimes or assisting in the investigation into such a crime after it is committed.

It is important that what we do in this House and the implications of the Bills we enact in the Houses of the Oireachtas are understood. The Senator can rest assured that I will be doing my best to ensure that when the legislation is signed by the President and brought into force, people understand the implications of this provision. The debates in the Dáil and in this House received some publicity and I am sure the Garda will make known the implications of this provision to individuals it believes have material information available to them that would assist in either preventing the commission of one of the designated crimes or the investigation of a crime it believes to have already been committed.