Commissioner Simon O'Brien:

We can deal with some of those questions at this point. I refer to Deputy Wallace's question about the police board. That is a matter of policy. If this Legislature brings legislation forward, we would be happy to work with any arrangement of that nature. It is not our place to comment on what any future policy may be. On the question of admissibility, the commission may extend admissibility decisions in certain circumstances. However, because of our case load, complaints are normally at a very low level - I use that word in the most appropriate way. These relate to basic service failures. Obviously, if a more serious matter arises some time later, the commissioners consider a decision independently of each other and come to an adjudicated position as to whether we would admit that complaint.

I refer to the Deputy's very good points about the Garda code of conduct and the issue of breaches of human rights. I agree there are some areas on which we, as a commission, will want to focus. Our five year strategy shows a focus on investigations around the death and serious injury of a person, which will be a real issue. We are bringing forward training for our staff to ensure the commission is a proper instrument of the State which will properly investigate the death or serious injury of a person.

The Deputy made some very interesting points about the number of complaints we refer to the Garda and the number we deal with ourselves. If we can reach the point where we are getting co-operation, it will make us more efficient. If it means a superintendent is not travelling from one district to another to investigate what is sometimes a very minor issue, if they could be picked up in some form of service issue and not be part of this very bureaucratic discipline process, then we, the commission, would not be sending so much back to the Garda Síochána in the first place. I wish to be very clear that section 94 of the legislation provides for a clear mechanism for both supervised and unsupervised investigations. Having been a police officer prior to this life, in my view it is not right for us to take away all the disciplinary functions of a police service of the size of the Garda Síochána. I am certainly very willing to talk in the next two and a half to three years about how much should be done by the commission and how much by the Garda Síochána.

We recognise the very stringent restrictions on the funding of resources. We will use every resource available to us to the best. If this public debate results in further co-operation, we may be able to take on more work in a more efficient way without the need to ask for more resources.

I refer to the UN human rights rapporteur and section 106. That individual will travel all over Europe to find out how other oversight bodies work. I suggest some small steps now, including the possibility of positive engagement from the Garda Síochána with regard to timeliness.