Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

In page 7, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following:

“(4) Within three months of the Commissioner coming to such an agreement as outlined in this section, the Minister shall require from the Commissioner a report outlining the nature, purpose and value of this agreement to the objectives in subsection (1), and the Minister shall cause a copy of this report to be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas.”.

Taking into consideration the previous vote and having heard the will of the House, I understand where Members stand. It is, however, important to make the point in respect of amendments Nos. 2 and 3 that there are already powers in the Garda Síochána Act for the force to enter into agreements with police in other jurisdictions. The legislation before us provides for the Garda to enter into agreements with agencies that are not police but rather those that are comparable to the Policing Authority, the Garda Síochána Inspectorate, GSOC, coroners' inquiries or units such as the anticipated historical investigations unit or the Independent Commission for Information Retrieval. Similarly, it will allow GSOC to enter into agreements with comparable organisations. The purpose of the amendments is to provide that the Garda Commissioner or GSOC will report before the Houses of the Oireachtas by the Minister, outlining the purpose, nature and value of the agreement. Entering into such agreements is valuable and useful, and in the context of the legislation will facilitate people's ability to have truth and justice for their individual cases. In general it will be of value if the Houses are kept informed of any such agreements through a report being laid before them. I am keen to hear the Minister's views on this.