Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

It abandoned that idea because the then Minister, Deputy Noonan, believed it was an erroneous proposal. The Labour Party acquiesced in that abandonment. We need to set the record straight — the Labour Party did nothing at that time. It was elected after it promised to put in place a Garda authority, but it did nothing for five years. It had plenty of time to do many other things.

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