Mr. Mark Toland:

In terms of oversight we have produced 574 recommendations in our nine years of existence. We have found that we are repeating some of those recommendations in reports and that is frustrating for us. We believe had they been implemented some of the inquiries and tribunals that have taken place may not have happened or could have been minimised. We think there was a lost opportunity. It has not realised the full benefits. We do not just hand a report over, we try to work with the Garda. I have noticed a real difference recently in terms of the engagement. It brings us in now at a very early stage to discuss new policies and our recommendations to make sure it fully understands what we intended with the recommendation and we want to help it achieve it. An obvious gap has been the implementation.

I welcome the Policing Authority because it will fulfil the role of monitoring the implementation of our reports. It has taken Changing Policing in Ireland . We would like it to take Crime Investigation because there are 212 recommendations in that report crucial to investigation of crime and dealing with victims of crime. I understand there are issues of capacity but we think that would be a good step forward to monitor the implementation. We have introduced a process where we meet it and check on the status but we have no power to force it to make those recommendations or to implement them. It is fair to say the majority of our recommendations have been accepted but not always implemented.