Mr. Drew Harris:

Undoubtedly, the landscape at the moment is complex. As a chief officer, I spent a long time - 12 years - being held to account by the Northern Ireland Policing Board in Belfast. I worked with the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and I was subject to investigation by that office. I am well used to vigorous and rigorous public accountability and investigation. That brings a lot of benefits in terms of public confidence and dealing with difficult issues. It brings an objectivity when dealing with complaints. It means that the policing service itself is subjective in its view on how to go forward.

As I said, I do not want to comment specifically on the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. We will make our views known as part of our commentary to the Government. We still have the Policing Authority, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and the Garda Síochána Inspectorate. The responsibilities of those bodies are set out in legislation. We have to be responsible as we work with them into the future. I can say without any equivocation that our position is that accountability, independent investigation and oversight are very important for the role we provide and are central not only in the performance of what we do but also in promoting public confidence in what we do. All this serves as a very useful sounding board and acts as a route for getting the opinions of the public on various matters. Regardless of what happens, we wish to see rigorous accountability that adds to public confidence in what we do and provides us with good and viable feedback that we can use to improve the service.