Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Naturally, there are exceptions. There are tremendously talented barristers. One need only mention somebody such as my predecessor as Attorney General, Mr. Dermot Gleason, who has a significant job in the private sector. However, being a barrister is not a passport to such jobs. I believe in barristers being sole traders and single, independent, rugged individuals, but that life demands from them that they never really get involved in large-scale administration. Perhaps the length of the tribunals has something to do with the fact that barristers are taking on roles which are organisational rather than otherwise.

That is what I have in mind. It is not a pay limitation or a substitute for an independent police authority. This is an executive entity that is supposed to move on the agenda of change in the Garda Síochána.

See this speech in context