Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

One need only go back to the period of Peter Berry's tenure of office and the records within the Department of Justice to appreciate that a culture of micro management of the Garda Síochána existed at that time. The Commissioner's role as a departmental official symbolised that situation.

From the 1960s onwards, a different arrangement took place in which serving members of the Garda Síochána were made Commissioner. In 1974, as is now known, an apolitical and completely independent system of a Director of Public Prosecutions was put in place. At that stage the pendulum swung from micro management to one which Mr. Justice Frederick Morris has criticised as one in which the Executive effectively became isolated from day to day control of the Garda Síochána. It is important that people should know that this is the case.

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