Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Those who put forward the proposition that there should be an independent police authority should ask themselves of whom it should be independent. I come into the House and answer questions on behalf of the Garda Síochána and account for my stewardship as a Minister. If there were an independent police authority of the kind suggested, how would I be in a position to answer for its activities if it were genuinely independent of me? How would I come into the House and say that its judgment in one case was right or wrong?

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