Mr. Martin Callinan:

Absolutely. I am in agreement with that. It would be a very positive thing. There is always an element of risk that people might wish for something to happen which does not work out entirely as they expect. I value my membership greatly and have huge respect for the work being done and there is a real opportunity, as I have said to the Garda Representative Association's annual conference, given the level of change the Garda as an organisation has gone through. We mentioned rosters and the change programme earlier. They provide a very real and powerful negotiating tool. I have no doubt that was helpful in the discussions, although I was not, rightly, privy to them. The notion of some sort of commission is a positive one and it would be very helpful where people are reviewing allowances, some of which have been there since God's time. There is a very real opportunity to facilitate or square off the pay elements from members of the Garda Síochána who had been in receipt of these allowances. There is greater acceptance now that these allowances were introduced at a time when successive Governments did not have the ability to provide for an increase for gardaí as to do so would have had a domino effect in many other elements of the public service. There is a real opportunity now to move the organisation and the conditions for its members forward. I am a strong advocate of doing so.