Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I do not shy away from my responsibility in this matter for one minute.

Sometimes I wonder if many people have studied the Bill I have put before the House. I have restated in great detail the relationship that will exist between the Garda Commissioner, the force, the Minister, the committees of this House and local government when this Bill becomes law. I have restated it in a new charter of accountability and responsibility.

The mechanisms for accountability are set out in this Bill. I have crafted it to bring about a re-installation of proper civilian authority over the Garda Síochána because the circumstance to which I referred in my earlier speech in which the Minister and Attorney General of the day were denied access on the basis of a constitutional theory——

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