Mr. Damien Walshe:

To echo that on the internal process, we pointed out in our submission that, even with good intentions, policies developed to serve a dominant notion of society can have a disproportionate impact on minority ethnic groups. That follows on from the Macpherson report which looked at the London Metropolitan Police Service investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. The report pointed out that within a large institution where there are policies in place, racism can be unconscious and unintended and have disproportionate impacts on minority groups. There were instances recently around allegations about PULSE and Traveller infants and also the incident last year where Roma children were taken into care. The report is due on that. Potentially, there needs to be an ongoing investigation into practices within the Garda Síochána and a requirement for an ongoing audit to see what is happening. Are there instances of organisational or intended institutional racism within the force? Given the allegations around PULSE, concerns raised by committee members and the Ionann report in 2004, there is serious concern about a potential within the force for institutional racism.