Gerard Craughwell (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Senator Bradley to the House and congratulate her on her appointment. She can trust in me for any advice she needs about the place. I am one of the few independent voices in here.

The Cathaoirleach will recall that during the passage of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023 through this House a number of questions were put to the Minister with respect to the participation of members of local authorities. One of the bugbears at the time, which will interest most Members, was about local authority members chairing community policing committees. Indeed, my colleague, Senator Boyhan, tabled an amendment to ensure that the chair of a community policing committee would be a councillor. We were told that it could not go into the Bill but that nothing would prohibit a councillor from becoming the chair. I understand councillors have to apply for membership of the committee but, more importantly, I understand that local authorities are being advised that there would be a conflict of interest to have a councillor as chair. That is simply not on. We were told one thing here and if an instruction of that nature has gone out to the local authorities we need to know about it and we need to know what has changed since the Bill passed through the House. This is one of the dangers when a Minister who is bringing a Bill through the House makes a statement.

When it is not written into the legislation, there is no way of ensuring that it is followed through on. If there is a prohibition on members of local authorities becoming members of this committee, we need to know about it. I ask the Deputy Leader to use his good offices to inquire about that. Galway County Council recently advised for its chair. I know the Deputy Leader will not be too happy if county councillors are prohibited from applying nor will most Members of this House. We should follow up on that and get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible.