Justice Minister rules out direct intervention in Garda oversight
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has admitted that she does not know exactly who will run the new independent Garda authority.
Minister Fitzgerald is planning to publish laws to overhaul the Garda system and create a new Garda authority later this week.
But she has admitted that she does not yet know who will lead the authority, or who will have the right to choose them.
She said however that there is no need for Gardaí to be subject to direct political oversight.
"I do not have to get involved in all of the details by direct intervention," she said.
"But I do have to lay down the non-negotiables, the standards, the direction, the absolute requirements of an Garda Síochána, and I think the wrong thing for a Minister for Justice to do would be to make the decisions that garda management should be [making]," she said.
