Baroness Nuala O'Loan:

When I left office, about 11% of our complaints were dealt with by a process of informal resolution. As it was not mediation, therefore it did not require the consent of the parties. Officers had to co-operate with the process. We dealt with rudeness complaints and minor failures of duty, for example, in that way. Officers were very resistant to it on occasion but the reality was that it was actually a huge learning exercise, like on-the-job training, both for officers and for members of the public. In the case of members of the public, it was about what they could legitimately expect of policing and for officers it was about the impact on people of the way in which they conducted themselves which may have been off-hand or brusque and which may have resulted from them working a very heavy shift, for example. Nevertheless, this was interpreted by the member of the public as being rude and not the kind of service to which the public is entitled. An informal resolution process can actually inform both parties and improve the service delivery by the officer. Very often, having done this process, the officers in question are quite ready to apologise and very often the member of the public will accept the apology and will say he or she did not understand it was quite like that.

I think it is in the interests of effective resolution of complaints. The current situation where a garda can refuse to participate and can say he or she is not going to mediate is not helpful to policing here.