Dáil debates

Thursday, 23 June 2005

Garda Síochána Bill 2004 [Seanad]: Report Stage (Resumed).

 

12:00 pm

Photo of Jim O'KeeffeJim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)

I think it unlikely we will reach section 57 so I wish to make a few comments on the ombudsman at this stage. It is vital the institution now put in place will have public confidence. I firmly believe the Minister is still on the wrong track, despite the amendments he has made. Having one of the three-person commission as a chairperson, as suggested by Deputy Costello, is an improvement but the outcome is still a fudge. I do not think the case made by the Minister for a three-person committee rather than a single ombudsman stands up.

He stated that the Garda Síochána has twice the strength of the PSNI in Northern Ireland and he spoke of the need for the ombudsman to go on holidays. The public has confidence in a single ombudsman, the same type as the office of Nuala O'Loan in Northern Ireland. There is no reason a similar situation should not arise here. After all, we have a single Ombudsman in Emily O'Reilly and we have a single children's ombudsman in Emily Logan. Such a position is for one person and all of these people go on holidays. I do not accept that the practical arrangements of people going on holidays take from the point of having a single ombudsman. The public wants that and has confidence in it.

At this late stage there is still time to change. The Minister is the only person who is dug in on this issue. He refuses to accept the confidence that exists in Nuala O'Loan on both sides of a very divided community in Northern Ireland. Surely that is the precedent we should follow. Despite the changes made by the Minister the outcome is still a fudge and will not bring the public confidence that is so badly needed in this new institution. I support the proposal to change the definition from an ombudsman commission to an ombudsman on the basis of the substantive issue that we should have a single ombudsman. That is what people want and the Minister is not giving it. This is the last chance to do it.

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