Cracks appear in new flagstone police body

Adverts calling for invitations for expressions of interest in the role of Policing Authority chairperson has already raided a number of concerns, writes Cormac O’Keeffe.

IT WOULD be a shame if the flagstone for the new independent police authority cracks before it has time to set. But the process adopted by the Government to appoint the chairperson of the Policing Authority is attracting mounting concern.

One of the positive outcomes from the seemingly endless controversies and scandals that enveloped An Garda Síochána and policing in the first six months of this year were promises from the Government — and the new Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald — of a “new era” of policing and oversight.