Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

People would be saying that for years we knowingly ran a system which we knew required a statutory basis but we did nothing about it. One cannot win on these issues.

Regarding the Commissioner and the centralisation point, the Commissioner's powers can be delegated under section 31. On the basis of what Senator Maurice Hayes talked about, I believe he should say that decisions on the location of a CCTV can be devolved to the local assistant commissioner or even further down the line as needs be. He can devolve some of his functions by name or by rank to different people. It must be remembered also that since the year before last, all legislation, including this Bill, must be interpreted and operated in a way that is consistent with the European Convention on Human Rights. That is an additional safeguard.

Senator Hayes referred to local policing partnerships. The Bill provides that where they are in the picture the matters he raised will be addressed.

I am an agnostic on the question of preservation or destruction of records. It is slightly sinister to think that there are hard discs somewhere, on which is recorded everybody who has walked up and down Grafton Street for the past 50 years, which are gradually being accumulated as digital information. On the other hand, would it not be horrendous to hear that somewhere there was a film record of Grafton Street for the past 50 years and that somebody, in a civil libertarian mode, was throwing it into a fire? I can see both sides of that argument.