Ms Emily Logan:

I was just going to mention that protocols between the Garda Commissioner and GSOC are provided for in our current legislation. We did not and do not see ourselves as party to that dispute. In answer to the Deputy's question as to whether staff work on call, as a relatively new commissioner I would say the organisation is a very dynamic one. Our investigators do not sit beside a desk or at a desk where they do their work. They are a very active group of people. The legislative framework to which they operate is our Constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. Regarding Commissioner Hume's comments on death, when there has been a fatality or serious harm, a group of our investigation teams go out and they are on call at any time, 24 hours a day. In fact, some of our teams have been called out on five occasions in the space of one week. They do everything from managing and preserving a scene and its forensic evidence to trying to support and interact with families who are distressed or traumatised. It is not only the investigatory nature of what we do that is important but the pieces around that too.

In response to the Deputy's original question about the public perception of GSOC, we are very sensitive to the current legislation and the perceived question as to who is carrying out investigations in the organisation. What I will say, as somebody who was an ombudsman for 12 years, is that the dynamic in GSOC is quite different. When we get to the final phase of an investigation, the commission actively participates in the direction an investigation takes.

We are not sitting in some ivory tower but have very close proximity to the investigation teams. We are regularly briefed in our supervision of what is going on. We also have policies which recognise, both for ourselves and for our investigation staff, that there may be an occasion when any of us might have a conflict of interest. We have policies to support our staff in making those decisions and we ourselves make decisions where it may not be appropriate, with reference to the Deputy's earlier question, for people who may have a policing background in this jurisdiction, to be involved in certain investigations. That is given very significant consideration. The Deputy's question about the public is something that is constantly on our minds.