Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My point is that there is an incredible body of legal experts with a diversity of opinions. A question arises over people having to take the Government to court. Why can the Government not pursue a test case? We all agree across this House that the women in question own their histories. We have all heard the testimonies. I do not know how many buckets of tears I have shed this week over the women, and I am about to shed tears now. We need to test this law. We are passing this Bill today. I absolutely agree that the narrow scope of the Bill is to protect the data but the next step is critical. It is a matter of the Government questioning its own law. The Minister has said the women own their testimonies and that we need to find a way. I am no legal expert so we need to get the legal experts to rule on this. We need the women to have their justice. I echo what Senator Higgins said, namely, that if there have been allegations of crimes - my sense is that there has been criminality - the people concerned need to be questioned in a criminal setting. I do not know the legalities of that either. The crux of the matter, however, is that we have to test all these GDPR arrangements and the legacy of setting up this commission under the wrong Act. It was wrong to set it up under the 2004 Act. As a layperson, I was glad to hear Senator McDowell state that.I had believed that my feelings on the matter were right. We have to test the consequences of our actions.