Mr. Justice Rory MacCabe:

I have been chairperson of GSOC since late January this year. As the Vice Chairman has indicated, I am joined today by my fellow commissioners Ms. Emily Logan and Mr. Hugh Hume, who joined GSOC in February last year. Mr. Hume has a background in policing at a senior level in the Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI, and served as deputy chief inspector in the Garda Inspectorate. Ms Logan was Ireland's first Ombudsman for Children and served as the first chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. We are also joined by Ms Aileen Healy, our director of administration. We will be happy to discuss our work in 2021, the annual report for which I understand will go to Cabinet shortly and will be published soon. It will be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas before it is published. We welcome the opportunity to discuss our plans in the context of the significant institutional reforms in policing oversight that will affect the work of GSOC in the coming years. We will do our very best to discuss and answer questions on our annual reports for 2018 to 2020, but members will appreciate that given we were not around at the time, it may not be so easy. If members have any detailed questions we are not in a position to answer, we will take a note and come back to the committee in writing as soon as we can.

A few weeks ago we appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts. Members may have taken the opportunity to have a look at the report, so while I do not propose to rehearse the matters discussed at that committee, my colleagues and I will do our best to give members such information as we can and, while GSOC is not perfect, I hope the committee will be satisfied the service we provide is rigorous, comprehensive and professional.

GSOC was established in 2007 following the passing of the Garda Síochána Act 2005. We were mandated to provide independent oversight of policing in Ireland. Our current staff complement is 135, and our most recent budget allocation in 2021 was €11.272 million. Working from our headquarters in Dublin and regional offices in Cork and Longford, GSOC is the vital interface between the people and An Garda Síochána. We operate in 26 counties, seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The work is challenging and complex, and results depend on the skill and dedication of our staff, each of whom carries a heavy caseload. I would add that it depends also on the co-operation we have from other interested stakeholders in the investigative process.

Our primary job is to investigate complaints from the public concerning the conduct of members of An Garda Síochána. We also conduct investigations into matters referred to us by An Garda Síochána, by the Minister for Justice and by the Policing Authority. We also conduct investigations into matters we judge to be in the public interest to investigate. We do not do this off our own bat but under the statutory mandate that has been delivered to us by the Oireachtas.

We do not prosecute gardaí nor do we discipline them. If our investigations lead us to conclude that a crime may have been committed, we send a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions which, as the State's independent prosecuting authority, must decide whether a prosecution is warranted. If our conclusion is that no crime has been committed but there is an issue of neglect of duty or misconduct not amounting to a crime, we pass the file to the Garda Commissioner whose responsibility it is to impose such disciplinary sanction as he thinks fit. I ask the committee to note, again, that this is not a decision we take off our own bat but one that arises from our statutory mandate. In certain circumstances, our statutory mandate permits GSOC to refer to the Commissioner for investigation complaints that come in directly. In addition, we are one the designated bodies to which members of An Garda Síochána can make protected disclosures. Where in the course of our investigations we identify systemic issues, we make recommendations to An Garda Síochána, advising it as to the need to improve policing policy and practice. Since 2018, we have also operated a local intervention initiative that has facilitated the speedy resolution of some complaints without the need for formal investigation. That is an innovation that has been extremely successful over recent years.

By their very nature, some investigations are straightforward and some are not. Some can be dealt with quickly and some require a commitment in terms of staff, resources and time that we know can be frustrating to everyone concerned. This is understandable from the point of view of complainants, who are anxious as to the outcome, and for members of An Garda Síochána, whose careers are, in effect, on the line. As we are bound by the principle of due process and the need to respect human rights principles, we cannot and will not prioritise speed at the expense of rigour in completing our investigations.

The period being considered by the committee today has been busy for GSOC. The volume and complexity of our cases have increased year on year, and the issue of resourcing has been the subject of constant concern for the organisation. Staff numbers have increased in recent years, but so has the volume of complaints we receive. Resourcing will continue to represent a significant challenge for GSOC in the context of the additional powers and responsibilities we anticipate the Oireachtas will mandate when it comes to consider the policing Bill.

The period under discussion also covers the upheaval faced by everyone in Ireland during the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid obliged us to make rapid adaptations to our working practices to ensure the continued and safe delivery of our functions as an essential service for the public.

GSOC's staff adapted admirably to the challenges posed by COVID, and in 2020 and 2021 we succeeded in delivering service to the public, including fielding a significantly higher volume of complaints. In that context, it is perhaps a bit strange, because in the context of Covid we had to close down our public office. People did not have a walk-in facility. For some period of time, we did not have a telephone facility because of the transition from a full office situation to people working remotely. However, in that period, nonetheless, the number of complaints we received and dealt with increased. It appears the issue of Covid had ramifications that did not extend to stopping people from making complaints to GSOC.

The period 2018 to 2021 saw reform in policing and in policing oversight take centre stage with the publication of the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in 2018. The most significant result for GSOC is the recent policing, security and community safety Bill. This is mammoth legislation that proposes not only sweeping changes in the law but fundamental change in the composition and mandate of GSOC. We welcome this draft legislation. It fills a clearly defined and long-signalled gap in Ireland's policing accountability infrastructure. Transition to the proposed new structure and arrangements are my focus. It is my brief to ensure the transition to whatever new organisational structure that is mandated by the members and their Oireachtas colleagues is seamless. To that end, a cross-organisational transition project group has been established to co-ordinate the work that needs to be done, including liaison with the Department of Justice, a thorough structural review of GSOC, and detailed business analysis and planning. A key theme of this work will be resourcing. GSOC will have additional powers and functions, which will, by definition, involve more work, which will in turn require the organisation be adequately staffed with appropriately skilled people and technological backup if it is to be fit for purpose. The complexities of investigating wrongdoing in the modern world we inhabit do not come cheap, but it is my belief the Minister and the Department are alert to the ongoing resource issues faced at present by GSOC and will support us as we look ahead to transitioning to a reformed ombudsman institution, which is one of the features of the new legislation.

At the hearing of the Committee of Public Accounts a few weeks ago, I invited the Chair, with some members of the committee, to come visit us at our HQ. I offer the same invitation to this committee today. I ask members to come see us, meet the staff, listen to them and see the work they do. In the few short months I have been here, they have impressed me with their dedication, energy and enthusiasm. It is my belief the committee members will also be impressed. I thank members for the opportunity to come to the meeting today.