Ms Eimear Fisher:

When we were talking to the different people across the board, there was an overwhelming sense of responsibility to the public. There was a consistency in focus groups and a palpable feeling of frustration in respect of what they wanted to deliver. They felt a sense of duty to the public. In respect of some of the positives which came out of the question on what they considered the culture of the organisation to be, I do not think there had been an understanding of the word "culture" because Garda culture always has a negative connotation but there are many positives in Garda culture.

It came out in the focus groups, consistently across the country, that there was a sense of duty and can-do. There was a sense of frustration, in that we can do as much as we can, but never say "No." When more responsibilities are put upon us, we do not question whether or not we can do them as an organisation. We simply take them, rather than saying, "Where's the priority here? If we take on a new function, what's going to fall from this?"

There was, therefore, a sense of frustration in that but there was also a sense of frustration about insularity and defensiveness. A persistent point across the country concerns a lack of opportunity to be listened to and to be able to say: "I don't think we can do this. I don't think we're doing this in the correct way." People wanted a process to be able to say that respectfully. They do not want to be in any way disloyal to the organisation, but positively and constructively say: "I think we could do this differently," and "Can I have an opportunity to say this?".

While those issues of insularity and defensiveness are there, we should not lose sight of the fact that there are strengths there as well. Having asked these questions of various people involved in the focus groups, I feel there was that sense of responsibility to the public. That should not be lost in this report either.