A Sligo Leitrim TD has called on the government not to miss out on a golden opportunity to properly restructure policing in this country.
The cabinet are today discussing plans to significantly reform the accountability of An Garda Siochana.
The Bill from Justice Minister Helen McEntee would create a single Garda Ombudsman and make GSOC more independent of the wider force.
The reform is largely based on the report from the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland it would see strengthening of the independent oversight of An Garda Siochana.
Internal reviews of potential garda misconduct will be strengthened through changes to GSOC.
The ombudsman will be restructured and have its investigation procedures overhauled, while the current three person commission will be replaced by an Ombudsman and Deputy Ombudsman model.
The Sinn Fein spokesperson on justice and equality is the Sligo Leitrim TD Martin Kenny.
He says reform of An Garda Siochana is long overdue
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Under the new system the Garda Commissioner would be treated as more of a CEO, in a similar way to other bodies like the HSE.
Deputy Kenny says having a commissioner with not such 'a hands on role' would have positives and negatives:
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