Mr. Dónall Ó Cualáin:

The recommendations the Policing Authority was considering in detail were related to the 11th report of the Garda Inspectorate. That is only a segment of the much bigger programme of work being carried out. I have mentioned the very ambitious programme of work that includes all recommendations made in all Garda Inspectorate and external reports which have been fed into our modernisation and renewal programme. A civilian executive director was recently appointed to head an office charged with assisting us in tracking how we are doing on all of the recommendations made. The Policing Authority decided the level of scrutiny it wished to apply. We have been talking to it about that matter and will continue in that space. In some cases there could be a difference in interpretation as to when something was completed. Some of the initiatives are large and have many components. It is unacceptable that the Policing Authority would be given wrong information and we want to ensure that is not the case. It may be a question of interpretation as to when something was completed. Is it when it is launched and put in place or when every single aspect of the detail is delivered on?

That could take a few years because some of these initiatives are very complex, they involve information and communication technology, ICT, and to bring in skilled resources from outside. In order to get it up and running we had to use whatever resources we had until such time as we got the civilian skilled resource to take on some aspects of that role. We are in conversation with the authority and I welcome that level of scrutiny because it is important that when we go to that forum we deliver an accurate picture of where our modernisation and renewal programme, MRP, is at any given time. There is so much work going on in that area that it is important to have people internally who can track it for us and the external scrutiny that will call us to account for where we are at any given time.