Commissioner Carmel Foley:

I would add for the record that the Garda superintendents who worked with us in the past and the two superintendents who are currently with us all had to volunteer to do that work under the Act. The Commissioner was not able to designate people; they had to present themselves as volunteers to work with the GSOC. In terms of the reference to cultural change, it was a big step for them to volunteer. In some police forces outside the Irish jurisdiction, before a member of a force can be considered for the senior ranks, he or she must have worked on dealing with complaints, which is a good practice. Dealing with complaints from the public should be viewed as being as important as some of the other skills, training and experience a police officer would have gained before being considered for promotion.