Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)

Will the Minister continue the policing committees on the same basis as they operated in the pilot? The notion of the most senior gardaí submitting to interaction with public representatives at a public forum is the only element of local accountability that we have ever seen in Ireland in policing. I agree with the Minister that it is a tremendous initiative. I am somewhat biased given that I was its author. I brought it to the former Minister, Michael McDowell, behind closed doors and persuaded him of it and he was as good as his word.

I want to know whether it will be on the same basis as the pilot because I believe the value of the joint policing committees has been somewhat undermined by the fact that, for example, my local authority has 23 public representatives. The Minister knows what public representatives are like.

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