Crime: Delegates unanimously backed the controversial proposal by Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to set up a Garda reserve force.
Fergus McDonnell (Laois-Offaly) said he proposed the motion as somebody who had served for 21 years in the FCA. "It is an organisation not dissimilar to the proposed reserve force. At the time I joined, I had a sense that I was serving my country in some small way."
Mr McDowell said the proposal required a willingness to change. "I want to thank those representative associations who now recognise that this is a sound idea. I say to every member of the Garda Síochána that we are in a changing society. We live in an era of commuter policing. Circumstances are such that many members of An Garda Síochána have to travel 40 or 50 miles to do a shift and then go home.
"Links between An Garda Síochána and the community are invaluable and the Garda reserve is probably the greatest and the most sound way of establishing those links in a way that will make a real difference."
The Minister repeated that his "door was open" to gardaí.
On bail, Mr McDowell said it was not true to say, as was featured in the media, that he had delivered a "broadside" against the judiciary, but he would be evaluating how the system was working. He would be looking at how the bail act worked, how all levels of courts were interpreting and applying the will of the people.
Jim Cuddy (Galway) said in 2004 there were 9,000 people found to be over the legal drink-drive limit, yet only 2,740 were convicted. He said the proposal to have an on-the-spot six-month driving ban was a backward step.
Delegates also passed a motion calling for the introduction of civil partnerships. Mr McDowell said it should apply not only for gay and lesbian people but also those who found themselves in different relationships.
