Brian Hayes (Fine Gael)

We do not propose that various officers are excluded from the forum. However, it is important that on the committees which are established, there is a direct line of responsibility to the chief officer who is either the superintendent or chief superintendent. For example, an inspector is in charge of the community divisions, which are very important in my area. The inspector of the community division would have to be at these meetings because much of the work involves community policing, of which we are all advocates.

However, the problem traditionally has been that when a new officer or recruit comes into a station he or she invariably ends up as a community garda for a number of estates. Over the course of two years, he or she will pick up huge amounts of information about the children who are causing difficulties and so on but then he or she is gone. The problem is that community policing is not seen as an attractive line of promotion within the force in the same way as detective work or other aspects of the force. We must work hard to emphasise that community policing is absolutely essential in urban Ireland and the work done is tremendous.

Two weeks ago, I attended a social function for a youth organisation in my own constituency, the money for which was raised by the community division of the Garda Síochána. Members of the division were present on the night helping to run the event, all of which represents unpaid work done out of hours. They are a tremendous example to the force. We underestimate the importance of community policing in this area.

The amendment does not propose to exclude officers from the committees but rather that there must be a line of responsibility to the top, which is, in effect, the chief superintendent. I agree with Senator Jim Walsh in regard to whether these meetings should be public or private. Of course, most of the meetings will be private because they will deal with problems on estates, naming people and so on. However, there will be occasions on which a public meeting is very important. We have often seen reports in local newspapers about ad hoc public meetings with an attached lynch mob, to which no members of the force are invited. We must prevent this type of occurrence. We should not underestimate the importance of a public meeting in order that the public can see what is happening, even in a general way.