Mr. Mark Toland:

We thank the joint committee for inviting members of the Garda Inspectorate to attend the meeting. We fully understand why we were unable to appear before it on the last occasion. I am the chief inspector and accompanied by my two deputy chief inspectors, Ms Pauline Shields and Mr. Hugh Hume.

The Garda Inspectorate is a statutory body that is independent in its operation and functions. Our main goal is to try to ensure An Garda Síochána uses its resources efficiently and effectively. Representatives of the inspectorate last appeared before the committee in October 2016. We welcome the recommendation made in the committee's subsequent report that the inspectorate be provided with a statutory power to conduct unannounced visits. The inspectorate notes that the Garda Síochána (Amendment) Bill 2017 contains such a provision. However, we believe the requirement to obtain the approval of the Minister to exercise this power should not be included. Following a request from the Policing Authority, the inspectorate is conducting an inspection of the delivery of police services to local communities. We are also in the final stages of completing an advice paper for the Minister that is looking at opening up entry routes into An Garda Síochána.

"Responding to Child Sexual Abuse" is a follow-up review to a previous report published in 2012. For the first time, we forensically re-examined a previously inspected area to assess progress in implementing our recommendations. The review also examined joint working arrangements between An Garda Síochána and Tusla under Children First. Since the 2012 report, there has been a considerable increase in the risks posed to children by the Internet and social media and the volume of online child abuse material is growing exponentially. This area was also examined in the review.

Child sexual abuse is one of the most serious types of crime with which gardaí will ever deal. The review found that 66% of all recorded sexual offences in Ireland involved a child victim. As part of the inspection, the inspectorate critically examined 211 child abuse cases to assess the quality of Garda investigations.

This analysis identified that the age profile of victims in these cases ranged from as young as three years of age and that only 5% of suspects were described as strangers. Since the publication of the original report in 2012, only 45% of the recommendations can be considered fully implemented. Processes in place between An Garda Síochána and Tusla for managing child protection cases are inefficient. Despite some progress in joint agency working, many barriers still remain. Joint agency meetings to discuss serious cases do not always take place and decisions are often made separately. We found that other jurisdictions have more structured and dynamic processes for making decisions in these types of cases. While the 2012 report recommended multi-agency specialist child centres to provide medical examination, victim interviewing and therapeutic services, there are no such centres in place.

There are still delays in recording crimes on PULSE. Some Garda investigations were conducted expeditiously and to a high standard while many others drifted with significant delays in taking victim statements, arresting or interviewing suspects and sending cases to the Director of Public Prosecutions. Inexperienced gardaí are still investigating child sexual abuse. This is not good practice. Joint interviewing of a child victim by gardaí and social workers is not in place. Victim support organisations, however, reported that the relationship between victims and An Garda Síochána has improved.

Not all convicted sex offenders who should be monitored by the multi-agency SORAM process are subject to those arrangements. This review examined 2,000 referrals of child sexual abuse material sent to An Garda Síochána. We requested an update on these cases. Despite repeated requests, 12 Garda divisions did not provide updates for some of the cases. We found significant delays at all stages in processing these cases. There was an insufficient online Garda presence at the time of the review. Other jurisdictions have a stronger online presence to target those grooming children and those accessing child abuse material. There are still very long delays in the forensic examination of computers and other devices. This is an organisational risk. Technology that provides real-time intelligence on those accessing child abuse material was available to An Garda Síochána but was not activated at the time of completing this review. The inspectorate was recently informed that it is now in use and that additional online Garda resources are in place. Like other jurisdictions, prosecution and conviction rates for child sexual abuse cases are low and long delays in conducting investigations do not help.

The inspectorate welcomes the creation of a Garda national protective services bureau and the roll-out of divisionally based protective services units that will have specially trained staff. These units have the potential to professionalise the investigation of child sexual abuse and provide better victim care. To address the findings on joint agency working, the inspectorate believes that all relevant Departments and agencies need to work together to reduce the risk of child sexual abuse and exploitation and make the physical and virtual worlds safer places for children. An important part of the review was the engagement with two adult survivors of child sexual abuse. Their testimonies gave an insight into the difficulties victims sometimes endure once they have reported abuse. The inspectorate is very grateful for their contributions, and the changes recommended in this report are designed to improve services for all victims.

There are 24 new recommendations in this report. They include developing a national strategy for child sexual abuse, child sexual exploitation and online risks to child safety; that An Garda Síochána and Tusla develop a more dynamic and structured approach to managing child protection cases; developing multi-agency specialist child centres and ensuring joint interviewing of a child; urgently addressing the backlog in forensic examination of computers and other devices; adequately resourcing and completing the roll-out of all divisional protective services units by the end of 2018; and ensuring that sufficient Garda resources are in place to provide a strong online Garda presence.

In November 2017, the inspectorate made a submission to the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. This is available on our website. We firmly believe that there is a place in the oversight architecture for an independent inspectorate that is focused on conducting inspections, audits and examinations to ensure that Garda reform is progressed and at pace. As a new team and having examined most aspects of policing, the inspectorate is in the process of developing a strategy and action plan for future work. We are proposing to approach this on a risk basis so that we inspect areas of most relevance and impact having regard to any human rights issues that may arise. In this context, the power to initiate our own work, which was included in the Garda Síochána (Amendment) Act of 2015 following a recommendation by this committee, will be most useful. While our work to date has mainly been large-scale thematic inspections, future work could include post-implementation reviews, compliance audits and cyclical inspections. The inspectorate has declared an interest to the Department of Justice and Equality in participating in the inspection process that will be required following the ratification of the operational protocol to the Convention against Torture. This would involve conducting visits to places of detention maintained by gardaí.

The objective of the inspectorate has always been to help make An Garda Síochána a better service - better for the public, for victims of crime, for all the people working in the organisation itself and for the criminal justice system in Ireland. It has always been the inspectorate's view that implementation of our recommendations is the way forward to reforming An Garda Síochána but we are disappointed with the pace of change. I thank the members for listening. My team and I are happy to take any questions they may wish to ask us.