Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will refer to the policing reform division and its work. As the Taoiseach knows, the Labour Party has for many years been a strong proponent of policing reform and we successfully argued for the introduction of the Policing Authority. I wish to ask the Taoiseach about the general scheme of the policing security and community safety Bill, which I understand was published more than a year ago. I would like the Taoiseach to confirm that the Government intends to move back to a governance structure that would effectively replace the Policing Authority and reinstate what may amount to an old way of governance, namely, an internal, non-executive Garda board, to take responsibility for governance and to be reinvested with the power of appointments. Legitimate concerns about this model have been raised by experts such as Dr. Vicky Conway and Dr. Eddie Molloy. Indeed, questions have been raised by Ms Josephine Feehily and Mr. Conor Brady, a former member of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, as to how this would work and whether it might dilute the main plank of the previous reforms introduced when the Commissioner was made accountable to the Policing Authority. Is the Government going to proceed with the changes proposed in the general scheme of the Bill or will it revisit those changes?

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