Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. Garda superintendents say the Bill will give more power to oversight bodies to deal with gardaí than An Garda Síochána has to deal with criminals. That is the kind of thing that is said for attention at annual conferences, but it is a very serious charge from a group of people who, as the Minister said, have co-operated with reform and are leaders in their communities and of the force.

The Commissioner has spoken about sections of the Bill granting powers to the proposed new ombudsman which, in his direct comments to the Joint Committee on Justice this week, would be disproportionate and unconstitutional and will not withstand an expensive and time-consuming test in the courts. In her response, the Minister spoke about the coherence of structures. The Commissioner said the introduction of a wide range of oversight structures in bodies with clashing and conflicting agreements will see the Commissioner of the day spend more time on reporting. He said he has concerns about the amount of time he will spend on accountability bodies which makes the proposed system dysfunctional and unconstitutional and that there are conflicting remits.

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