Mr. Mark Toland:

When an inspection is being embarked upon, my understanding is that the Commissioner would be notified, as part of that inspection, that unannounced visits were going to be carried out, but not necessarily where the inspectors will be going. I thank the Commissioner because we have just finished an inspection and we looked at custody. For the first time, the Commissioner allowed us to do unannounced visits, to have access to people in detention and to talk to Garda members and people who had been brought to the Garda station.

We felt the legislation would be strong but we are grateful the Commissioner worked with us on a recent inspection to allow us to visit people in a Garda station.