Mr. Hugh Hume:

In respect of our ability to operate, Covid affected us, as it affected a large number of organisations, but we did not stop. I only joined the office laterally at the end of Covid. Those who went before me had a robust plan in place to continue to deliver the service, from complaints and administration to investigations, so we continued to deliver our service throughout that period. However, there were delays with witnesses not wishing to come and be interviewed, Garda members concerned about interviews and our staff’s health and well-being. Covid affected GSOC as it did other organisations but a considerable amount of work went on. On-call remained and staff continued to attend calls and respond to referrals in spite of the pandemic.

For a while, we kept records of Covid-related complaints arising from An Garda Síochána but, like much of the data on our current case management system, it was not hard data because it is hard to establish if an individual member of the public complained at a Covid checkpoint whether it was Covid-related or was simply because of the Garda presence.