Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

What I am trying to understand is the internal dynamic that exists between the Tánaiste, the Garda Commissioner, the Garda Inspectorate and the Policing Authority. People watching these proceedings will question why the Policing Authority issued a statement today that states:

The Authority again expressed its disappointment at not being advised in a timely manner that an audit into the breath test issues was underway. Despite questioning over several months, the Authority has not [...] been provided with the full internal reports or indeed a clear sense of how these matters have been handled to date within the Garda Síochána or the status and content of the audits which have been undertaken.

The Authority considered the correspondence received from the Garda Commissioner on Friday 24 March last in which the Commissioner requested that the Authority refer a number of matters to the Garda Inspectorate.

What I am trying to get at is the reason the Policing Authority would issue a statement of this nature. One can only surmise, and I ask the Tánaiste to correct me if I am wrong, that the Government does not have enough faith in the Policing Authority due to its not engaging in a more timely fashion with the Department regarding the modalities of the issue at hand.

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