Michael McDowell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

No, it is not mandatory, but I will explain it to Senator Norris, through the Chair. When the Official Secrets Act 1963 applied to all members of An Garda Síochána, a habit had broken out among some members of disclosing harmful information to the media, and the Attorney General of the day was informed by the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána that unless he had a power of arrest, he had no capacity to investigate anybody, either a journalist or a garda, who had published such information because all they had to do was politely decline to co-operate with the Garda's inquiries and every such inquiry immediately went into the sand. It was as a result of that issue that the harmful information provision was put into the Garda Síochána Act 2005 because the then Commissioner, Mr. Pat Byrne, had informed the Attorney General at the time that he was more or less powerless to carry out any investigation of these leaks unless he had statutory powers on the commission of a serious offence.