Mr. Mark Toland:

We would like the power to carry out unannounced visits so that we do not have to give three months notice that we are coming in to look at particular files. We would not use that power regularly. It is just that there would be some inspections where we think we should turn up and get a reality check.

In terms of traffic, I cannot comment on the recording. My teenage son drives. Sometimes he gets stopped and he is not quite sure what will happen at the end of the interaction and whether he is going to receive something in the post or whether he is being given a verbal warning. I have found that sometimes with traffic matters, some people, especially youngsters, leave an interaction with a garda unsure about whether they are going be prosecuted or whether they have been given a good telling off.

A traffic matter is a single incident and gardaí have to produce a quick report or say that someone has been reported. With a crime investigation, a garda has to take statements from victims and witnesses, interview the suspect and put a case file together through to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, or the superintendent will ask that garda a number of questions such as whether he or she has checked CCTV, so a crime investigation is a significant piece of work. Many gardaí currently assigned to 999 calls have no time built into their schedule to investigate crime. They will come on today and ask their sergeant for time to take a statement. We want investigation units where that time is built into their daily work rather than using gardaí who have three or four other functions to do, of which investigation happens to be one.