Mr. Mark Kelly:

Yes, it is an issue on which the Human Rights and Equality Commission may wish to comment. It is quite unusual to have this absolute conflation. From the beginning of the current spate of Garda-related controversies, it first arose in connection with the allegations of bugging of our colleagues in the ombudsman commission. One of the points we have been highlighting is that the legislative framework under the 1993 and 2009 legislation for the oversight of surveillance and intelligence activities is inadequate, that it is not subject to appropriate supervision or surveillance. We fully appreciate that there are sensitivities, but GSOC stated in its submission that even if the Garda Commissioner were to become subject to its authority, there might have to be a space carved out related to State security. To be honest, I am not sure the Irish Council for Civil Liberties agrees with this. Later this year representatives of a treaty body, the European committee for the prevention of torture, CPT, are again coming to Ireland.

That body has never accepted that there are aspects of policing that fall within its mandate which it should not be able to look at simply because they are classified as issues of state security. The top-level message we have taken from Mr. Guerin's report is that we cannot have a situation where a Garda Commissioner defines what is and is not to be looked at by independent bodies. Unless we tackle that issue head on, it will continue to be a very contentious area. There is a need to strengthen independent oversight of intelligence activities and seriously consider decoupling the conflation of the two roles.