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

We have a circular issue here whereby the authority was involved with informal contact. How then, in the interests of the two people who appeared before us, can it provide the level of transparency for them when they feel they were rejected?

Procedures within the Policing Authority need to be reformed to ensure anyone who gives intelligence will believe it will be dealt with in such a way that they will be able to feel confident in bringing it to its attention. There is the issue of perception and confidence. Whether Ms Feehily agrees or disagrees, that is the reality and perception. I brought up this issue a year and half ago when I said I had concerns about the level of collaboration. It is equivalent to the Central Bank making decisions on the policy of a particular bank and the way in which it runs its show and then trying to provide for its oversight. In governance terms, it is important that we have that degree of separation, which regular telephone contact does not achieve. That is why there should be a separation that probably was not visible in this instance. I do not know whether Ms Feehily wishes to respond on the issues I have raised or how she proposes to address them in order that if this were to happen again, persons bringing evidence to the committee would not have such a perception.