Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

That is fine. I will just reiterate what I said the previous time Mr. O'Driscoll came before the committee. I think the Garda has been thrown under a bus by the Department and the Government. The witnesses are here in defence. The Department and the Government drew the dots and forced the Garda to join them. It should be for the Garda to exercise its operational independence to decide which stations it feels should be reopened and the criteria that should be set. It is important in the context of the Toland report and other proposed reforms that the Garda would have less of an aggregated relationship with the Department and that it would exercise its operational independence. It would be refreshing to hear Mr. O'Driscoll state his regret at the criteria being imposed on the Garda rather than trying to defend something that I think breaches the Garda's operational independence. That is unfortunate, but it is to be hoped we will see changes afoot whereby criteria will not be imposed. Will Mr. O'Driscoll give other examples of the Government setting the criteria? Did the Minister for Justice and Equality tell the Garda to establish a particular unit? I assume that was a decision of senior management. It decided based on its own experience to establish particular units.