Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Absolutely. We all want that, but to have a world-class policing service we must have the confidence of An Garda, which, at all levels, is losing confidence in this Bill. The Minister has had interaction with the Commissioner but he appeared before the justice committee this week and used the phrases to which I referred so, obviously, he is not too convinced that there will be too many changes. The Minister had the interaction with the Garda superintendents. What about the issue coming from rank-and-file members of their difficulties in dealing with vexatious complaints? Will that be dealt with? When we hear the Garda Commissioner, who is a straight-down-the-line kind of Commissioner, use the words "disproportionate, unconstitutional and will not withstand an expensive and time-consuming test in the courts", that needs to be dealt with urgently, I suggest, rather than waiting on reports.

Finally, I express a concern about the dilution, contained within the new Bill, of the joint policing committees, JPCs, which are extremely effective. It is a retrograde step to reverse the progress and the effectiveness of joint policing committees with these new community safety partnerships.

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