Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

I read this section and I was not quite certain what it was about. I thought it was just a saver clause to provide a legislative basis for an inquiry into something which happened that was not covered in the rest of the Bill. However, the matter raised by the Minister should be a matter for the Garda Ombudsman Commission. If we are to establish a robust system with 100 investigators, then that would be the mechanism to deal with matters like this.

There may be other matters that would not come under the remit of the Garda Ombudsman Commission, or some matter might be so urgent that the commission would not have the resources to deal with it as a matter of urgency. Therefore, I have no difficulty with the availability of this clause, but I would not like it to undermine the authority and scope of the Garda Ombudsman Commission.

I wish to make a point about the issue raised in The Sunday Tribune. Two allegations were made. The first dealt with Quinn Direct, which has been robustly rebutted with an allegation of forgery. This is an extremely serious matter and I have no doubt it will take its course and the truth will out.

The second allegation relates to what appears to be an exclusive arrangement entered into by the Garda Síochána and AXA Insurance. I am deeply concerned about this and have tabled several parliamentary questions today, which I am sure will be answered. I understand the pilot scheme in my county, which was supposed to run for six months, is still ongoing. Having read the report last Sunday, I made some inquiries and discovered that it has been ongoing since the middle of 2005. Under this arrangement, gardaí must telephone this particular insurance company's designated towing company within 45 minutes in respect of any vehicle bearing its sticker that needs to be towed. However, a different tower applied through the tendering process to be the official Garda tower for my county and his drivers were vetted by the Garda and so on.

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