International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-03-19
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

The suggestion that the chief inspector will be precluded from attending before, say, the Oireachtas justice committee, is wrong. Obviously, he or she can attend. There is no issue about that. It is not for me to dictate to committees who can or cannot attend before them. I suspect this will be very much like the Inspector of Prisons, and the chief inspector will be invited before a committee and questioned.
What is set out here is that he or she "shall not be required to give account before a committee for any matter which is or has been, or may be at a future date, the subject of proceedings before a court or tribunal in the State." It is a protection for the chief inspector that he or she does not have to give information in respect of a matter that could be the subject of proceedings. That is a prerogative and a privilege of the chief inspector.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-03-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:45+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-19