Mr. Martin Callinan:

This is an extremely difficult issue, as the Deputy would appreciate. I am sure all of us in general experience have come across members of An Garda Síochána who may have provided assistance in telling us not to be doing what we are doing or whatever. It is very difficult to be either prescriptive or descriptive and that is the position, unfortunately. The most we can do is provide guidance to members and when considering a particular set of circumstances, it is important to apply the principles of fairness, non-discrimination and impartiality, and gardaí should be practical in what they do. Beyond that we must consider corroboration of some of the issues we were being told, which is very good. That will strengthen the discretionary element that exists, and I am a very strong proponent of discretion. The citizens of this country have been very well served in the past having had those powers of discretion available to members of An Garda Síochána. They should be reasonable, balanced and fair, and they should not favour one stratum of society above another.

I have heard all the commentary about people being "in the right place or circle" and that things will happen in terms of cancellations, etc. It is clearly the case, if one considers the number of cases dealt with by the assistant commissioner, the ordinary citizens of the country have benefited from that element of discretion. I would ask that this should not be taken the wrong way or made into a headline tomorrow. It is an area that is difficult to provide for but all we can do from a management perspective is ensure that the process is such that there is that type of oversight and audit trail available, with no fudging of documents by means of documents being lost or destroyed.