Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)

I am delighted to support the Labour Party motion before the House. Just two months ago when I spoke at short notice on the Second Stage of the Garda Síochána Bill, I welcomed many of the initiatives in the Bill. They included the joint policing committees my colleagues and I on Dublin City Council pioneered on that local authority, the setting of policing priorities, annual policing plans, the audit committee, the devolvement of financial accountability for the Garda Síochána to the Committee of Public Accounts, the statutory provision for international service and co-operation with other police services, especially the PSNI and the provision for volunteer or, as I understand it now, reserve members of the force. These are all important and useful initiatives that the Minister inserted in the original Bill as it emerged from the Seanad.

However, the major and serious omissions in the Bill, which I asked the Minister, Deputy McDowell, to re-examine last April, still remain absent from the legislation. They are the lack of a Garda authority to give crucial independence and modern managerial direction to the force, and the lack of a properly resourced and powerful Ombudsman to investigate thoroughly the actions of all Garda members in discharging their crucial police functions.

For these reasons and the shocking impact of the two Morris tribunal reports, the comprehensive motion before the House is both timely and necessary to restore full confidence in an Garda Síochána.

I paid warm tribute to the outstanding work of my local Garda officers in the debate two months ago. I now reiterate my respect for the often heroic work of Garda members in combating serious anti-social and violent behaviour. In many respects, the Minister has let those officers down by refusing to support them with adequate resources at critical times. In recent days, he has also let them down by refusing to embark on a root and branch redrafting of the Garda Síochána Bill — preferably following on or in conjunction with a Garda commission, as we have proposed — including key reforms the Labour Party has long sought.

Gardaí generally were horrified and disgusted by the two Morris tribunal reports. I read the second report at my desk last Friday as well as referring to media reports of the Morris tribunal. When I closed the report last week, I was deeply shocked and horrified by the appalling and disgraceful events detailed in Mr. Justice Morris's lucid and compelling account of the performance of a significant number of Garda members in the Donegal division.

The outrageous failure to investigate a citizen's death in any remotely professional way and the attempt to frame two innocent men, marks a dreadful watershed in the history of An Garda Síochána. The shocking collapse of discipline, morale and local Garda leadership was detailed in the 700-page report concerning ancillary events connected with the totally botched investigation. This makes it incumbent upon the Minister to accept the motion and proceed to a fundamental national review of the Garda Síochána. The Minister must also incorporate in the Garda Síochána Bill all the necessary reforms as outlined by our party leader, Deputy Rabbitte and our spokesperson on justice, Deputy Costello.

It is an indictment of the Minister and his advisers in the Government that Mr. Justice Frederick Morris felt he had to repeat, in appendix 1 of the second report, his recommendations from the first report on the manner of reporting by local Garda divisions to Garda headquarters, the management of informants, the maintenance of Garda officer's journals, the disciplining or dismissal of misbehaving Garda members, and the recruitment and promotion system.

I note that the Minister has belatedly moved on some of these issues. I pay tribute to Deputy Costello who has dragged these reforms from the Minister with heroic fortitude. The Minister, however, has totally failed to address other recommendations by Mr. Justice Morris in appendix 1 and chapter 9 of the current report.

Like his colleagues in Government, the Minister, Deputy McDowell, often comes across as a man obsessed with the history of the pre-1997 era. This hapless and mistake-riddled Government cannot defend its woeful and lethargic record since 1997, so its only recourse is to harp on about events in the mid-1990s or even earlier. This ludicrous approach re-appeared yesterday when the Minister rejected the idea of a Garda authority. Despite the long-standing success of such authorities in the neighbouring jurisdiction and similar examples in many other democracies, both inside and outside the EU, the Minister has again rejected the establishment of a Garda authority or a board of directors on security grounds, although he did not elaborate on those. His stance would be totally inappropriate in any parliamentary democracy.

It is true that Ireland, the UK and Sweden have had fundamentally different histories since the 1920s because, at times, fascistic and criminal forces seriously threatened our democracy. The Garda Síochána has a proven and distinguished record in opposing such evil but the presence of a Garda authority would only enhance our fine tradition of democratic policing. Likewise, in the 2000 Labour Party policy document, Deputy Howlin made a cogent and unanswerable argument for a Garda ombudsman on the lines of the Patten reforms in Northern Ireland. Mr. Justice Morris has reiterated his call for such an ombudsman. The awful events detailed in his report, so far, make such a development crucial to the future well-being of An Garda Síochána.

Many Deputies have expressed grievances about the Garda Complaints Board and from that point of view the sooner any legislation is passed the better. Nonetheless, a fundamental root and branch redrafting of the legislation is required. It is unbelievable that the Garda Complaints Board appears to be answerable neither to this House, the Minister, the alleged victims of Garda misbehaviour nor their solicitors.

Last April, on Second Stage of the Garda Síochána Bill, I asked the Minister, Deputy McDowell, to address one such case. Although the citizen concerned made a complaint directly to the Minister — he approached him before he contacted me — the Minister chose not to respond to the matter. The Minister will recall that this was the case of a Mr. Kevin Tracy of Chapelizod, Dublin. Approximately three years ago, Mr. Tracy complained to the Garda Complaints Board about alleged, serious misbehaviour by several gardaí. Mr. Tracy also alleges he has been unfairly treated by members of the Judiciary. I have heard these allegations by Mr. Tracy, as has the Minister, but it is appalling that the Garda Complaints Board has not reported on the matter for the sake of the gardaí concerned, the Judiciary, and Mr. Tracy and his wife. I invite the Minister to respond to the matter before this debate ends. He might also reflect on whether the new ombudsman commission should contain provision for a review of cases such as that of Mr. Tracy.

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