Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is quite right. It was the then Minister, Michael McDowell, of whom I was critical at the time as an academic. Many of us were critical. It has been Labour Party policy that we should have an independent policing authority. I welcome that we will do that, and that the justice committee has been tasked by the Minister with reviewing the oversight provisions in the Garda Síochána. I hope we will see from that a strengthened mechanism for the oversight of policing in this country, an independent policing board to act as a buffer between the Minister of the day and the Garda Commissioner, and a strengthened Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission that will have proper powers to investigate various allegations of wrongdoing and misconduct in the Garda.