Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

Yes, it does. However, confidence in the Garda is diminishing in many working class communities and the case for fundamental reform is well-established and timely. Sinn Féin has published detailed reform proposals to restore community confidence, which we submitted to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform for his consideration prior to this Bill's publication.

My colleagues will go into more detail on our proposals to establish a policing board for civilian oversight and community policing partnerships at district levels for local community accountability, which differ from the Minister's proposed Garda inspectorate in Part 5 and the joint policing committees in Part 2, sections 30 to 34.

I turn to our proposal to establish a Garda ombudsman for this State to investigate allegations of Garda misconduct and abuse of power and to end the culture of impunity which is quite different in several major respects from the ombudsman commission proposed by the Minister in Parts 3 and 4 of the Bill.

Sinn Féin recommends the establishment, on a statutory basis, of a fully independent Garda ombudsman to investigate police misconduct. Impunity for police misconduct is a major human rights issue around the world. It is not limited to the Six Counties nor to this State. Last year, an Amnesty International report on Europe revealed that impunity is endemic in most European jurisdictions. We accept that the level and extent of misconduct here is not equivalent to that of the RUC-PSNI but that does not mean people in this jurisdiction do not deserve the same standard of protections as their Northern counterparts. Indeed, Strand Three of the Good Friday Agreement stipulates that equivalence is an obligation on the Irish Government.

Sinn Féin's proposals for a Garda ombudsman are based on the Patten reform model which is consistent with UN and Council of Europe standards on policing. While Patten was, and remains, a compromise for Sinn Féin, we have accepted it as the absolute minimum acceptable standard for a human rights compliant and accountable policing service. The ombudsman element of the Sinn Féin Garda reform package is, therefore, consistent with the Good Friday Agreement in that it relates to harmonisation of human rights protections which, as set out in Strand Three, must be at least equivalent in the two jurisdictions on the island. The Minister cannot extract himself from his obligations in this regard.

This is not only our view. We welcome the growing consensus that only an ombudsman can provide an effective complaints mechanism and that nothing less than an ombudsman can command full public confidence. Leading human rights groups in this State, the Human Rights Commission, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and Amnesty International have endorsed this as the most appropriate model for the gardaí. Amnesty International went further, advocating it as a model for police services throughout the EU. Other progressive political parties, such as the Labour Party and the Green Party, have also accepted it.

Consistent with the recommendations of the Irish Human Rights Commission, Sinn Féin proposes that a Garda ombudsman must be an open, merit based appointment selected on the basis of published criteria. It must be established separately from any body charged with a Garda management function or with a mandate to review Garda efficiency and effectiveness. It must be adequately resourced and staffed full time. It must be granted the necessary legal powers and resources to conduct independent investigations. It must be allowed a scope of investigations that include the special detective unit unless and until that unit is disbanded.

It must be authorised to question witnesses, compel document disclosure and access locations at will. It must be granted the same legal powers as gardaí to arrest and hold criminal suspects related to its own investigations. It must be empowered to determine breaches of Garda disciplinary code and to refer evidence of criminality on the part of gardaí to the Director of Public Prosecutions. It must be empowered to resolve appropriate complaints informally with the complainant's consent or to resolve complaints formally by assigning penalties and remedies, including recommendation for disciplinary action, dismissal, changes in policy or procedure or compensation to the complainant. It must be empowered to investigate systemic problems, including policies and practices, and make general recommendations to eliminate causes and classes of complaints. Where determined necessary by the ombudsman, this should include matters of national security.

The Garda ombudsman must be empowered to conduct independent investigations on matters of public interest on his or her own volition or on the request of the Minister without the need for a complainant. Investigations should be compulsory in the cases of certain violations involving loss of life, excessive force, ill treatment in custody, discrimination and political interference. Of critical importance for justice in this State and necessary for a real end to impunity, it must have retrospective investigative powers. Any information that becomes available to the Director of Public Prosecutions, which indicates Garda misconduct, should be automatically referred to the Garda ombudsman. Gardaí under investigation should be afforded the full protection of due process rights. Both parties should be afforded equal treatment before the law, including full disclosure and access to legal aid in cases where there is need and an opinion of sufficient merit.

The Garda ombudsman must be required to produce an annual report for publication, including statistics, identified trends or patterns, analyses and recommendations. The Government must establish a mechanism for effective interaction, sharing of information and collaborative investigation that enables the Garda ombudsman and the Police Ombudsman for the Six Counties to work together.

As the Irish Human Rights Commission has argued to the Minister, this reform is not only necessary to respond adequately to the criticism of the existing complaints system and recommendations raised repeatedly by the UN human rights committee and the European committee for the prevention of torture over ten years, it is also required to conform with both the European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence on standards of independence and impartiality in police conduct investigations and the Good Friday Agreement provisions on equivalent human rights protections between jurisdictions.

We welcome the Government's recognition that internal investigations and the Garda Complaints Board have proved totally inadequate. Both Governments' commitments to establish an independent complaints procedure date back to 1973. This issue must be resolved in the proper way without further delay. We have an opportunity now to shape the policing of the future for the people of Ireland and it is critical we get it right.

I recognise and welcome that since Sinn Féin made its submission to the Minister, he has moved away from his fundamentally flawed earlier Garda inspectorate model which wrongly combined investigatory with management functions and, in many ways, replicated the flaws of the current system. I acknowledge that he has taken on board several of our recommendations. However, the newly proposed ombudsman commission still does not get it right. The Minister's new model has also been criticised again by the Human Rights Commission. It has raised the following concerns which we share.

The appointment and dismissal processes are still not fully independent and transparent. Complaints can still be referred to the Garda Commissioner without the complainant's consent. Six months, the general time limit for complaints, is unreasonably short and restricts access to justice. The Garda Commissioner retains too much power over the investigation process and we could still end up with ineffective internal investigations where the outcome was less than death or serious harm. There is no obligation whatsoever on the commission to formally investigate serious cases involving allegations of torture, sexual assault or other abusive behaviour on the grounds of race or sexual orientation or political opinion if the end result was less than serious injury or death. Investigations can still be restricted in the name of national security and the commission still lacks the power to initiate investigations into individual incidents or systemic patterns of misconduct or abuse. These are the main concerns. There are others which my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, will treat in greater detail on Committee Stage.

I hope the Minister will accept Sinn Féin's constructive amendments to strengthen this aspect of the proposed legislation as I very much want to be able to throw my party's support behind this reform effort when the Bill returns to the House on Report Stage. I do not want ministerial intransigence to force me into a position of voting against this Bill.

I urge the Minister to go the extra mile and accept the consensus on the ombudsman issue and the broader issue of the validity of the Patten reform model for this jurisdiction. If he does so, he will have introduced legislation which commands all-party support. I urge him to take this opportunity to make genuine policing reform his positive lasting legacy as Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform.

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