Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Section 63(1) states: “the Garda Commissioner shall, at the request of the Board and in accordance with this section, within 6 months after the coming into operation of section 11 and not later than the expiration of each subsequent 3 year period following that coming into operation, prepare and submit to the Minister a strategic plan for An Garda Síochána in respect of the period of 3 years immediately following the year in which the plan is so submitted." I go back to the issue that I raised under section 62 but which is relevant to this section. We are prepared to put in a three-year period in which the strategic plan for An Garda Síochána will be drawn up. We are willing to put in timelines for the strategic plan and subsection (5) then outlines what will be included in that, including the security priorities which we discussed under section 62. However, there is no timeline in section 61 with regard to the issue of policing priorities. There seems to be a disconnect in this regard. Why do we have that in one section but the Department saw fit not to put a three-year timeline in the previous section?