Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

Perception is very important. I am not sure if the Director of Public Prosecutions is prohibited from joining a political party. Perhaps civil servants are not so entitled.

There is no law which states that a judge shall not be a member of a political party but there is clear legal convention that it would be a sacking offence if he or she were to join one. The same applies to gardaí. They are better served by not being able to be members of political parties, which is not to say that they do not have strong political opinions and the same right to vote as the rest of us; that is their entitlement and I would be opposed to changing it. To adopt Senator Cummins's phrase, this has worked well to date and I do not see many members of the Garda Síochána battering down my door or sending their wives or husbands out as proxy members of political parties or whatever. We would be better off to leave it as it is.