Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring:

On discussions with the Government, I thought I had said that we had raised the issue of section 66 of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act with officials in the Department. I assume, therefore, that they have raised it with the Tánaiste. After that, I cannot say where it has gone.

On taking over the issue of discipline from the Garda Commissioner, that is a big issue. To be frank, that is not a role we have had or which we have considered because it has been a matter for the Commissioner. That is a whole new area and I am not going to go into it. It is not something we have considered. That is a matter for the Commissioner and the committee to examine. We have not had a role other than in terms of bringing matters to a certain point and handing them over the Commissioner. I go back to the core message which is that there must be some experience of management of discipline and controlling behaviour and misbehaviour. If one farms everything out, where is that experience going to grow within An Garda Síochána? Those are the other concerns. If one is going to have a disciplined force, which is an important aspect of any police force, it must, ultimately, discipline itself.

How to build that in is a real issue. I do not think it is for us to say. We have enough to deal with oversight. The issue of discipline is for the Garda Commissioner unless the Oireachtas changes our role and gives us powers in terms of discipline regulations; we are not asking for them.

The issue of promotions is an internal matter. If, for example, somebody is the subject of a complaint or is part of a complaint process, they do not notify us that they have sought promotion. Again, we do not know how they get promoted and what matters are considered. People have been promoted, but that is not something in which we are involved. The information the Commissioner has and the decisions made are internal matters. We deal with the complaint, the person and the process. If during the course of that process, people die, people are promoted and people leave, those are matters that just happen. However, we have no hand, act or part in them.

On bullying and whistleblowing, I am conscious - with four cases - not to go into particular matters. In any protected disclosure in any workplace, clearly a person comes forward and puts themselves on the line. Even while a matter is being investigated, things arise and that can be difficult to supervise and deal with in any workplace. However, because these are new procedures, all employers, all workplaces and all workers are having to learn how best to deal with them. We are new to the protected disclosure procedures. We will learn and make mistakes in the process. We will have to come back on it and we will make mistakes; the Garda will make mistakes. That is not good enough, but it is a whole new process.