Mr. Dónall Ó Cualáin:

The Deputy mentioned the community in his opening remarks. We have to return to the fact that we serve the community, in whatever capacity we hold in this organisation, whether garda, civilian or reserve. That is our focus at all times, and that will be my focus. Any damage to that relationship is a red flag for the organisation. We have to give it absolute priority, because our success as a police service since the foundation of this State has been built on our relationship with the communities and the fact they have been happy to support us in doing what is an evolving and very complex job. To the person on the front line, dealing with a local community, the work of a garda may seem very simple. That is how it should be. We should be present in the community, be seen, and provide support and visible reassurance to members of the public.

The Deputy asked me what my vision was and where I want it to go. I want to ensure that for the time that I am leading this organisation that we do not - regardless of what changes might come about - lose that valuable tie that we always had with the community. That is where our focus will be, through our community policing initiative, and that is a main plank of what we hope to achieve over the coming years. The name "community policing" might indicate that this is some new initiative that has been taken off a shelf or out of a textbook. It is not. This is what we always did. It is our default position. We may have to vary or modify it depending on where we are, depending on whether it is an urban or rural situation, but we have to maintain our focus in that community way. My vision for the organisation is to ensure that with all the change that is about to happen, and is in fact already happening, that we do not lose that. It is the family silver, as it were, and is something that we cannot afford to lose. We are the envy of many other police services worldwide, which see the manner in which we can go to our communities for that support when we need it. I have served in every province of this country, in different capacities and different ranks, and the common thread that runs through all our work is that we have that good relationship.

At times it dips, of course. There is much negativity at the moment because of all the issues that have arisen. That has to have an impact on public confidence. I accept that but we depend on the individual gardaí at local level to ensure that local confidence is there. If we combine all that local confidence together then nationally, the public will have confidence in the police service. We have much to learn and we have lots to do to bolster that confidence but that is what I am setting out to do at the moment. I made clear at the outset, on my appointment as acting Garda Commissioner, what my priorities were and they go back to my first point about community. That is where we are - the delivery of a day-to-day service for the people of this country, supporting them and keeping them safe. Parallel to that, we are moving on as quickly and efficiently as we can, in the context of all the help we will require, including from this committee, to ensure that we get the delivery of cultural change, investment, increased civilianisation and the return of gardaí to the front line who had to come off it to do critical administrative work. That work is needed in order to ensure that we are accountable but it does not necessarily require those with Garda powers to carry it out. We are very ambitious in that context and thank the Government for its commitment to an increase in our civilian capacity which will be doubled over the coming years. We have a very ambitious programme at the moment which is moving on under our chief administrative officer, who will ensure that we get delivery of those people in the fastest possible manner so that we can release gardaí to the front line. Getting people in from the college and releasing people from desk duty will increase our visibility on the front line. A lot is happening.

That is my vision for the organisation while I am in charge over the coming months until such time as a replacement is found. I have every confidence in the Policing Authority to carry out its functions in that process.