Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

I listened carefully to what was said here and it accorded with my own hunches that we were going down the wrong track then and we have switched to the right track.

On the guidelines, it is to be noted that section 36(1) of the Bill as it now stands states that a local authority and the Garda Commissioner shall arrange for the establishment of a joint policing committee in accordance with guidelines issues under section 35. Once this section comes in, it is a positive duty. It is not something that may happen or whatever. It must be done.

The guidelines will have to be elaborated on, and that is by no means an easy task. One of the functions Senator Maurice Hayes's committee will be forcing the Department to do is ensure it is working on these guidelines and that this work is not pushed back because it is difficult. It is difficult. It is almost a piece of legislation in its own right.

I am minded, however, bearing in mind what Senator Jim Walsh said, to include in the guidelines a possibility to select between different models. That may be the way forward. It may not be the case that one size suits all. It may be the case that in some areas his purest version of politicians only and gardaí is the right way but it may be that in other areas there is a developed social infrastructure about which Padraic White, the chairman of the National Crime Council, spoke. It is possible to envisage guidelines which would have models A, B, C and D, for instance, and to let the local community and local gardaí select one or other of those models as they see fit. Otherwise, I will be in a position where everyone is saying I got the wrong solution whereas if I offer the local authority a choice of solutions to match its area it may make sense.