Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber once again. I compliment Senator Ruane on this legislation. My reading of the legislation is it is intended to improve the fairness of the parole system. While I acknowledge the genuine intent behind it, the right move today is to revisit it in six months when there has been more time to consider it. The current system provides for withholding information from parole applicants in exceptional circumstances under section 14 of the 2019 Act. If there is a case for reform, it is to improve oversight and clarity around those exceptions, not to introduce closed secretive processes that place a legal wall between applicants and the information being used to decide their future. I agree with the motion to move that for six months.