Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are two pieces, as the Minister has said. There is a piece around what happened and why the information is not there, and there is the piece around what happens next for the individual. I believe that what happens next for the individual is probably the most important part. I acknowledge that the Minister has at least given one route forward for the individual who receives that letter, with regard to the contact register and the tracing services. This is a very positive measure.

With regard to the other part as to what happened and why the information is not there, I understand that it may be difficult to say where it is in each individual case. It is however important to note - and I say "note" because I am trying to put markers down for what we track in the next 12 months - that if certain bodies are repeatedly coming back to persons and saying, "We do not have the record and we do not have your records", and if certain people were in particular institutions, if there are multiple cases, and even for those who get referred by this mechanism to the contacts preference register or the tracing service, then there would be some investigation again, based on a collective concern.

Senator Boyhan said some information may have been lost due to accidental reasons, good, bad or indifferent, but for those situations where there is a bad pattern in relation to information not being provided, there could be some gathering again. The stakeholder forum and others is one way that this could be identified. I just want to make sure that where we get the flag, it does not just happen for the individual and that patterns are identified and followed up.

In that context, the mechanism may be there in the review mechanisms the Minister has already indicated for monitoring, if particular bodies are failing to a higher degree than others to provide persons with the relevant information. As I have said, however, of the two halves of my amendments, the one that gives the individual somewhere to go next is probably the most important part. In recognition that the Minister has provided for this to some degree in amendment No. 32, I will not press my amendment No. 27.