Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the original heads of the Bill, the Garda Commissioner was to be fully accountable to the authority. In the published version, this was watered down so that the Minister retains oversight and the Garda Commissioner merely reports to the authority. Sinn Féin believes the authority should be independent, rather than merely being fed small bones of delegated power from the Government. If the authority is to have real teeth, the Garda Commissioner must be accountable to it. The Bill needs to be amended to reflect this. We reserve the right to propose amendments on Report Stage to this effect.