Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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In fairness, the author of the report, assistant Garda Commissioner John O'Driscoll, gave a very comprehensive report at the justice committee meeting. Every question we have asked here was put to him and he answered all of them in terms of resources, who he consulted - Mr. Pat Leahy, local management and the assistant Commissioner - and the people he chose to consult. He deals with quite a few of those issues. All I am saying is I want to make sure this committee will not duplicate questions already asked, as members can understand. I believe Mr. O'Driscoll has answered quite a lot of the questions asked. He has made very it clear that it is a Government decision and that it is included in the programme for Government. Therefore, it is Government policy and not within the remit of the Committee of Public Accounts. It is said at the beginning of every single meeting here that witnesses should not discuss policies of the Government or their merits of those policies. It is a political matter, one for the Dáil Chamber and everywhere else, including the justice committee. It is for every member of that committee to do that, not the Committee of Public Accounts. The only point I am making is that we must be conscious of the work the justice committee has done and not repeat it. We would begin to look foolish if we were to repeat it. We know that there is a policy which is outside our remit, but that is politics. There will be issues about costs to be incurred next year which will rightly be matters for the justice committee to consider in dealing with the Estimates for 2018. Let us not stray into areas already covered.