Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The two ladies came before the committee and gave an incredibly powerful account of themselves. Their confidence in the Policing Authority was not what it should have been. The public listening to their testimony here were beginning to wonder if there was an issue here and to ask what was going on. The Policing Authority's representatives have given a fairly robust account of themselves, but they need to revisit their protocols and look at how they deal with people. Those two ladies had a lot to offer, and the authority should have been engaging with them in a one-to-one meeting. Ms Feehily talks about structures and that the authority wants things done officially through An Garda Síochána. Sometimes that does not work. Sometimes when the Policing Authority gets information, it should be possible to pick up the phone and ask someone to come in for a chat. Ms Feehily said that the authority gathers intelligence regularly from different sources. Maybe it is now time to look at the authority's protocols again and meet some of these people.