Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is accountable through the structures created under the Patten reforms. That is why people sit on the policing boards. There is accountability through the boards. Various communities and political parties, including Sinn Féin, have representatives on the policing boards. There is a line of accountability but, unfortunately, there is a grave danger that policing in the North will be compromised because of this activity. A pattern has emerged whereby there are protests when arrests happen in loyalist areas. People can switch on riots if they do not like who is being arrested. People cannot condemn that kind of activity on the one hand while deciding to mount pickets on the other.

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