Mr. Drew Harris:

My contacts with the Police Service of Northern Ireland are entirely open. The Chief Constable and I are meeting in two weeks to consider how we take the relationship on to the next stage. It is clear that we can learn a lot from each other. Law enforcement organisations throughout the world can learn a lot from one another. When we have such a close neighbour, those relationships should be deep and meaningful. That should not just relate to crime investigation or the sharing of intelligence, though they are important, but also to sharing personnel, skills and training and all other areas in which we can properly collaborate, as envisaged by the intergovernmental agreement on police co-operation that we have from 2002. We will want to emphasise that. Anyone who has been in policing for as long as I have has contacts not just in the United Kingdom but throughout the world and can draw on those too. Being Commissioner of An Garda Síochána, a lot of goodwill is extended towards this organisation which I intend to tap into, both with regard to operational co-operation and training or other expertise and assistance.

Maybe I did not speak strongly enough with regard to the conflict of interest point earlier. I have been in the job for eight weeks. It is all-consuming and I am entirely absorbed by it. I am here to lead the organisation and serve the people of Ireland with the outcome that we protect them, particularly the vulnerable, as well as I and this organisation can. That is my agenda in a nutshell and what I expect of the rest of the organisation.