Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)

Before speaking on the Bill, I want to deplore comments made by Deputy Quinn who used this opportunity to make scurrilous remarks about the contribution of my colleague, Deputy Crowe. I will defend absolutely my right, and that of each Sinn Féin Deputy, to speak on the Bill and the issue of policing. The communities we represent, both North and South, have just as much right to a proper policing service as those represented by Deputy Quinn. Sinn Féin has made a constructive contribution to the policing debate in this House. I commend my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, on the work he has done.

Sinn Féin aspires to establishing an all-Ireland police service which is among the best in the world. It must be fully modern, efficient and effective, able to respond to evolving challenges, representative of the population, accountable to local communities and working in partnership with them, underpinned by a human rights and community service ethos, meeting or even exceeding international best practice standards for policing. We are ambitious to create real security in our communities and we have positive policy alternatives to offer.

We now have a police force in the Six Counties that has not severed itself from its legacy of human rights violations and which is still ultimately controlled by the British Government. Meanwhile, the Garda Síochána in this jurisdiction has been undermined by under-resourcing, lack of proper oversight, lack of local and public accountability, corruption and a culture of impunity for misconduct. Present oversight mechanisms in particular are very poor. It is not acceptable that neither the Garda Commissioner nor the Minister for Justice, Equality or Law Reform could answer my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, when he asked the total number of serving gardaí who have been charged with or convicted of a criminal offence, and the number for each type of offence. No wonder an MRBI poll from one year ago found that more than 50% of young adults had no confidence in the Garda.

We need to be positive, not negative in our approach to this issue. What is needed now is comprehensive reform and strong legislation to change the culture of impunity and the lack of oversight and accountability in the future. We are committed to engaging constructively in the process of change until such time as an all-Ireland service can be established in the future. I am, therefore, pleased to have the opportunity to comment on this long overdue Garda reform Bill, to point out some of its shortcomings and to encourage the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to accept the constructive proposals and amendments that will be tabled by Sinn Féin.

Earlier, my colleague, Deputy Crowe, dealt with the aspects of the legislation regarding the need for a single Garda ombudsman, in keeping with the Good Friday Agreement strand 3 commitments to equivalence in human rights protection between both jurisdictions. I will deal primarily with the need to establish a policing board for civilian oversight — a mechanism that would provide much stronger accountability and transparency to the public than the Minister's proposed Garda inspectorate based on the British model in Part 5 of the Bill.

The Minister will say it is untenable for Sinn Féin to boycott the policing board in the Six Counties, yet call for the establishment of an equivalent body to oversee the Garda in this jurisdiction. Let me clarify this. There is no contradiction whatsoever in our position. The establishment of a policing board is an essential element of the Patten police reform package. The Patten model is widely recognised as representing international best practice in policing. It is also consistent with UN and Council of Europe standards on policing. It was developed in the context of the peace process for application in the Northern context as a necessary element of conflict resolution. Patten was put together by a team of international experts, including a Canadian who helped to guide police reform for post-apartheid South Africa. The Patten report is still considered by many to be state of the art and to have international relevance and application. Sinn Féin believes the Patten package is far from optimal, but we accept it as representing an appropriate minimum standard. We could not accept anything less than the full Patten report.

We do not find the Patten's policing board model objectionable, rather the PSNI. While we maintain that the Garda Síochána is in need of comprehensive reform, as both Deputies Ó Snodaigh and Crowe have previously stated, we also believe it is a legitimate police service. The same cannot be said about the PSNI which continues to retain human rights violators on active duty, block access to the truth about collusion, retains its political policing arm, the special branch, and plastic bullets.

Sinn Féin recommends the establishment on a statutory basis of a fully independent civilian policing board, separate from the Garda Síochána and the Garda ombudsman's office. Its purpose would be to hold gardaí fully to public account.

The policing board would act as the civilian body to which the Garda Commissioner was accountable. In this way it would fulfil the other aspects of the remit of the Minister's proposed inspectorate, providing management oversight on issues of recruitment, qualifications, training standards, equipment, accommodation, organisation methods and best practice.

Sinn Féin proposes the policing board be independent of Garda management and representative of the population served by the Garda. We recommend it be composed of one third cross party elected representatives, one third representatives of statutory bodies and one third representatives of community and voluntary sectors. It should have at least 50% female representation and take into account the need for other social and economic representatives. Members of the board must be selected by a transparent, merit-based appointment process independent of the Garda Síochána, and members and the chair must be selected on the same basis as the ombudsman. Elected representatives should be disqualified from holding the office of chairperson.

The policing board should be empowered to appoint senior gardaí on the basis of a transparent process to review their performance and hold them accountable. The board should be required to meet monthly and in public with the Garda Commissioner and to receive his reports on operational management. It should be able to request and receive all manner of information from the Commissioner. If it is in the public interest that such information be kept confidential, the board should be allowed to hold in camera sessions to deal with specific matters.

The policing board must have the power to request a report from the Garda Commissioner on any matter pertaining to policing. It should have the authority to establish short, medium and long-term strategic priorities and objectives together with the Commissioner as part of a process of agreement on strategic and annual policing plans. It should be responsible for monitoring performances as well as budget management against the agreed policing plans or any other indicators it regards as suitable.

The board should have the power to make recommendations on resource allocation and policy change to the Minister who would be obliged to take due regard of such recommendations. It should also be able to refer matters as appropriate to the Garda Ombudsman or Comptroller and Auditor General. It should be able, if necessary, to establish an independent inquiry into any matters it regards pertinent. Provisions for such inquiries should be framed to emphasise the board's independence.

In the interest of full public transparency and accountability, the board should be required to publish annual reports of its activities.

We welcome the emerging international consensus regarding a need for independent, civilian oversight in order to establish full police accountability. However, the Minister's proposals in this Bill will not deliver the full independence and civilian oversight the Irish people deserve and should be revised to include provisions for an independent, civilian policing board.

We welcome the Minister's recognition that Garda oversight and investigation functions should be separate, as argued by Sinn Féin, the Human Rights Commission and others. I also welcome that the Minister has, in Part 5 of the Bill, altered his original proposal of a Garda inspectorate which wrongly combined investigatory and management functions and, in many ways, replicated flaws of the current system. He has taken several of our recommendations on board. However, the newly proposed Garda inspectorate is still not right and is not quite up to the standard set out in Sinn Féin proposals.

While former members of the Garda will not be allowed sit on the inspectorate, the Government is still allowed to appoint former police officers from other states according to section 107. This means, theoretically, that former RUC members could be appointed to the board. The appointment process is merit based, but it is still not transparent. Despite claims in section 109(7), the inspectorate will not be independent of the Minister, who retains overall control of its work, according to section 109(2)(a). Provisions in section 109(5) allow the Minister to suppress the publication of inspectorate reports at his discretion. Furthermore, in section 112, the chief inspector shall not "question or express an opinion on the merits of any policy of the Government or a Minister of the Government." The inspectorate is also not required to meet in public.

The Minister's new model has also been criticised by the Human Rights Commission and the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, which have raised several concerns which we share. The Human Rights Commission objects to the retention of the existing system of political appointment of senior officers within the Garda, the broad discretionary powers granted to the Minister with regard to the operation of the force and, in particular, section 23 which specifically directs the Garda Commissioner to have regard to Government policy as well as to the law and relevant regulations. This is not a formula for a policing service that is accountable to the public it serves, but for a police force that is accountable to Government parties first and foremost. This is not acceptable.

The ICCL agrees the Bill does not go far enough to address the management crisis in the Garda Síochána or the culture of denial and lack of accountability. It further states that in granting broader ministerial powers of oversight and direction, the Bill "runs the risk of overcentralisation and politicising" of the force and "would ultimately undermine its independence". We would say it further politicises the force. The ICCL rightly observes that "no other public body in Ireland composed of more than 10,000 individuals can utilise as broad a range of discretionary powers with serious implications for human rights ... it is unacceptable to allow one ministerial position to exert such influence over the gardaí". I welcome the ICCL endorsement of the policing board model offered by Patten.

Independence is not optional but a fundamental cornerstone of democratic policing which is why Sinn Féin is concerned about the Minister's failure to use this opportunity to establish a policing board for accountability and oversight.

I have issues in my constituency of Kerry North. I refer to a statement from Deputy Hayes regarding the Garda Síochána Complaints Board. He states that very few complaints have been made. How many successful complaints have gone before the complaints board? In my experience it is a waste of time, which is regrettable.

I must also bring to the attention of the Minister that Deputy Ó Snodaigh wrote to him on four occasions on 13 October 2002, 12 November 2002, 28 February 2003 and 29 May 2003 seeking that he meet Sinn Féin Deputies concerning a serious injustice to a person in my constituency, James Sheehan. He was arrested on the grounds that a gun was allegedly discovered in his car. In a subsequent search of his house 12 rounds of ammunition were discovered. A file was sent to the DPP. Seven years later he received a letter from DPP informing him that the charges against him had been withdrawn even though he was never charged.

Many Deputies raised a question on that case with the Minister and all referrals in that respect were to the Garda Complaints Board. This case represents a denial of equality of treatment. Is it because we are Sinn Féin Deputies that we are not entitled to a response from the Minister? Is it because the man in question was a Sinn Féin member that we did not receive one? From 1988 to the present day he has carried the stigma of a gun having being discovered in his car, which he said was not there. He was never brought before the courts.

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