Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It is fair to criticise an organisation only if it is given the ability to do the job it is asked to do, and there are some serious issues in this response in respect of just that. This is not the first time we have had something drawn to our attention by GSOC or Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring, who gave us quite a lengthy response on a previous occasion. A couple of paragraphs in the response before us are of concern. GSOC is being reformed and we are told in the reply it is important to note this level of resourcing will allow GSOC to deal only with the current workload under the existing legislation. It goes on to state these resourcing levels do not take into account the additional requirements consequent on the intended transition to the successor complaints body provided for in the draft policing, security and community safety Bill. That is pretty serious stuff, given we know there are already significant delays and backlogs. While it is positive that resources are being allocated to deal with that, we need that successor organisation to be fit for purpose.

We are being told that the resources are not being provided to do that. We should express our concern to the Department of Justice on that. I do not believe that we can criticise an organisation in the full knowledge that we know it is not being resourced.

My second point is about the pay dispute involving the senior Garda officers. On the last page of this reply we are being told that senior Garda officers have withdrawn from work they consider outside their core duties. Can we check with GSOC whether this is deemed to be a core duty, and if this is something they are obliged to do? I do not see how GSOC can function without this co-operation. I believe that this dispute has been going on since last July. We must check again with the Department of Justice exactly what exactly is the plan of action to deal with this, and to find out if this is regarded as a core duty.