Mr. Mark Kelly:

I thank the Senator for her question and giving me the opportunity to clarify that we have high regard for the expertise of those working in the Garda Inspectorate. They are doing the job they were given to do under the 2005 Act. The implementation of the suggestion made in our submission will depend a little on the eventual redesign of the architecture of accountability systems. The fundamental question that we think needs to be addressed in the new architecture is whether the oversight function needs to sit in a completely independent body. The suggestion made in our submission that has been echoed by colleagues that section 106 be amended in order that GSOC can look at policies, practices and procedures would, in itself, scoop up quite a bit of what the inspectorate does. We have had a good look at its reports - it makes one substantive report per year and has done so since 2006 - which are very good and technical in nature. They benchmark operational policing against best practice. There is a place for that role to be continued, but we question whether, once the Garda authority has assumed the oversight functions of the inspectorate, it particularly would make sense to have this happening as an adjunct to the Department of Justice and Equality.

There has been much talk in recent days about a change of culture in policing. If that change is to happen, it has to happen within the police service. We would like to see the police service assume responsibility for benchmarking against best international practice. The 2005 Act also created the Garda professional standards unit, GPSU, which works closely with the inspectorate. Our view at this stage, without having seen the new accountability architecture, is that quite a bit of what the inspectorate does on a routine basis could be done by the Garda professional standards unit, with oversight by a combination of GSOC under a revised section 106 and the new Garda authority. To give a direct answer to the Senator's question, what the inspectorate does still needs to happen, but we think the operational functions could be vested in An Garda Síochána and the oversight functions in independent bodies.