Ms Antoinette Cunningham:

Thank you, Chair. I also thank the committee members for the opportunity to present to it this afternoon. The AGSI represents almost 2,500 members of middle ranking gardaí, sergeants and inspectors, within the Garda organisation.

Most of us know that the policing, security and community safety Bill, has its genesis in the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, CoFPI, report published in 2018. The report set out the reform and transformation of An Garda Síochána and stated that significant strengthening and a clear vision for policing was badly needed under the reform programme. The AGSI welcomes any reform and change agenda that sets out to serve the public and creates greater efficiency within the Garda organisation. However, the Bill does not provide a clear vision for change and instead it creates a multilayered, confusing and complex system of boards, bodies and agencies, some of whose functions are similar but all of which require independent and individual accountability, to such a degree that one would have question how the organisation can function effectively on a daily basis. The duplication of work is gravely concerning. It is vague and ambiguous about who answers to whom. The AGSI is most anxious that we are not seen as resistant to any reform agenda, but what this Bill does is creates a multilayered and confusing system where nobody is sure who accounts to whom. An all-too-easy line that we have heard politicians and others say in the past, is that staff associations are opposed to reform, when it is simply that the converse is true. The vital role staff associations can play in a reform agenda should be nurtured and valued as they are key stakeholders in the Garda organisation.

One of the issues the AGSI has with the Bill is the failure to give a context or rationale for many of the proposed changes, but it sets out as its basis to go far beyond what is recommended in the CoFPI report. The Bill raises serious concerns about the constitutional, privacy, human and other rights of the members we represent. There is a clear absence of fair procedure evident in the new powers proposed for GSOC. The association has had serious issues with GSOC and some of the investigations it has carried out on our members. The extended powers it is proposed to give GSOC seem to be without proper justification and seriously encroach on the basic rights our members feel that they are entitled to, rights that every other citizen in Ireland enjoys and which simply cannot be disregarded.

It is unprecedented that the Commissioner himself has serious reservations about the Bill and is quoted as saying it falls well short of our shared ambition for a transparent, accountable, trusted and effective policing service for the future. What is ironic here is that the Bill fails to give recognition to the fact that the CoFPI report recommended that GSOC should be superseded by a new independent body where incidents rather than individuals are investigated, to find fault where appropriate and to identify what needs to be learned. Instead, what the Bill has done is expanded the existing powers of GSOC to such an extent that they do not contain any constitutional safeguards for members of An Garda Síochána. Also of concern is the lack of oversight that is evident for the newly proposed GSOC. It seems it has no accountability in the Bill to anybody, and we do not know what action it will take if frivolous or vexatious complaints are made to it. There has been considerable disquiet in the AGSI with the length of time it has taken GSOC to investigate some complaints against our members. This Bill proposes that there would be no time limits to investigations. In some cases, one can only describe the conduct of GSOC as shameful, where it has left members under investigation for years. We do not know whether this is a competence issue, a process issue or what-----