Ms Noirín O'Sullivan:

The informal resolution process is a very important factor, as Ms O'Loan has said. The majority of complaints made to GSOC are complaints which we and GSOC would assess as being service level complaints, exactly as Ms O'Loan has described. They would be behavioural issues as opposed to issues of misconduct or misbehaviour. There is certainly a lot to be learned from those complaints. It would be a very positive move if we could come to a form of either agreement or triage. We have had discussions with GSOC about whether it could triage service level complaints which could be referred back to An Garda Síochána, with the consent of the complainant, saying that the complaint would be dealt with. Line management would deal with the bad behaviours. Ms O'Loan's point is very important about the learning that emanates from these complaints.

I regard the informal resolution process, with consent, as being the next tier. However, we need to be very careful to achieve balance. At the last committee meeting there was a suggestion of members of An Garda Síochána vetoing the engagement with the informal resolution process. We need to find a methodology that allows us to balance the rights of all the individuals, including the complainant and the person against whom the complaint is made, in order to achieve that informal resolution. In my view, the service level agreement would allow us to have a tiered response to complaints and would make it a much more effective system and free up the resources and the time of the ombudsman commission to deal with the real issues that need to be dealt with such as misconduct, misbehaviour and criminality.