Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank Ms Feehily for attending. When we raise questions and make criticisms of the authority, they are mainly aimed at a body that was set up poorly, so its members are dealing with a flawed product.

It was built into the legislation that the authority would be reviewed after two years, with 1 January specified in the Act as the end of that period. In that context, I would be concerned if Ms Feehily does not have a clear idea already of what suggested changes will be contained in the authority's submission to the Government. Will the authority be seeking substantially more independence? How would that fit in with the new commission on policing, which seems to have come out of nowhere to take over roles - completely unnecessarily in many ways, given that the answers were already available - that are established in law? Will that create a difficulty for the authority in submitting its review? When the legislation was introduced, there were ideas about genuine independence, control over budgeting, vehicles and station openings, etc. A real policing authority should have that type of oversight. Is the authority considering ideas along those lines? How far advanced is it in that regard?

Does the authority now see the commission as an interference? I do not mean that in an aggressive way but rather in terms of the authority's ability to do that. That is my first question.