Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The amendment seeks to place an obligation on the Commissioner to inform the authority, in addition to the board and the Minister, of "any actions, proposed actions, omissions or proposed omissions" which would exceed the resources available to An Garda Síochána for the period of the service plan. It is very much the view, as discussed previously, that this would go against one of the key principles that applies throughout the Bill, as envisaged by the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, namely, that governance and oversight of An Garda Síochána should be separate. The authority and inspectorate are amalgamating their role when it comes to oversight, while governance will then move to the board. It is essential that there are clear lines of responsibility between the different actors in the policing landscape. The responsibility has, appropriately, been given to the Garda board in terms of the function and purpose to provide oversight to An Garda Síochána. Considering that it is the board and Minister, and not the authority, that will have the roles in relation to the approval of the plan, it is appropriate that they are both informed of any exceeding of resources as soon as possible. It is for those reasons that I cannot accept the amendment. We need to make sure we have that separation.