Ms Noirín O'Sullivan:

As I said in my opening address and have said from the outset, we are committed and open to listening to the concerns of our own members and to internal and external criticisms. As I said earlier, while these may not always be fully right there will be issues in respect of which we will need to take prompt action. One of the big learning curves is in terms of the perception of insularity. We need to engage in much more open collaborative engagement, be willing to discuss matters in a much more open way and demonstrate what we are doing about particular matters. The team I have brought with me, together with the remainder of the senior management team, are leading the way in transformational change, addressing the issues that have been identified. One of the big issues is the culture of insularity. Members will have heard me say before that there must be greater engagement with those who are our critical friends internally and externally. We must support people in doing that and empower them to come forward and engage with us in a much more open way. We must ensure we engage, listen, understand and act. That is key issue for us.

The Deputy mentioned the inspectorate's report. There are lessons in everything. What is important for us is that we learn from those lessons and implement the change that is required. In regard to the Guerin report, we have already started an implementation programme around the broad recommendations in that report. Deputy Farrell asked earlier about training. That is one of the issues identified from that report, which we have prioritised.

To answer the Deputy's question, we must ensure that we listen, understand and take action as appropriate and that we engage with all of our stakeholders. We were very fortunate over the past number of years in that we have something which is pretty unique in terms of policing in the context of the strategic human rights advisory committee. I recently sought to meet with the committee in regard to a review of the Ionann report which is now almost ten years old. It would provide us with a great opportunity to identify what the issues are internally and externally. Public perception is really important. We need to restore public confidence in the Garda Síochána and are engaged in doing so in every way we can.