Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

Deputy Ó Snodaigh has covered a broad spectrum of issues. His amendment No. 42 proposes that "the appointment of a Deputy Garda Commissioner and Assistant Garda Commissioner will be merit-based, and subject to a transparent public recruitment process" and that "the appointment of a Deputy Garda Commissioner and Assistant Garda Commissioner will be subject to ratification by Bord an Gharda Síochána". It is unfortunate that we will not have such a board.

In an earlier amendment, I proposed the establishment of a Garda authority, similar to the board proposed by Deputy Ó Snodaigh. Both of us favour the establishment of an oversight body that would ensure a level of accountability and transparency in all the functions of the Garda. Such a body would also be responsible for dealing with the force's promotional procedures. All these matters are inadequately addressed in the Bill before the House.

I wish to speak about one of the core lacunae or flaws in the legislation. The Minister has chosen to hold the reins of the Garda Síochána and the Garda Commissioner close to his chest. The mechanisms provided for in the Bill are not sufficiently transparent or comprehensive to satisfy us that we have fulfilled the requirement to ensure that what has happened in the past will not happen again.

Mr. Justice Morris has stated clearly that he is concerned about promotional matters. In his first report, he said that "the Tribunal regards with disquiet the promotion to senior ranks of persons who were unwilling or unable to give to their vocation the energy and aptitude that it demands". Mr. Justice Morris found that middle management members of the force — superintendents, inspectors and sergeants — in County Donegal were not conducting their duties with "energy and aptitude". There were people in the job who did not seem to have any commitment to it, nor any enthusiasm, energy or aptitude for it. This begs the question as to why they were in the job, how and why they were appointed and why they were left in it. Some of them have since retired and some are currently the subject of disciplinary action, but if the Morris tribunal had not been in place, those same people who allowed and supervised a conspiracy of criminality to be operated against vulnerable, innocent citizens to continue would still be there. What do we do in the legislation before us to redress that situation? We do nothing. The Minister has no new proposals to ensure that all promotions are transparent and independent and not merely at the behest of the Government.

If we continue in this manner, we are not doing ourselves any favours today in the manner in which the legislation is being put forward. I would like to hear the Minister go into some detail about a merit-based and transparent public recruitment process. I know he believes, and has stated, that he already has this in place and that we will have one of the best, most transparent, merit-based recruitment processes possible. However, there is no structure to ensure that, and it will remain in the gift of the Government to make all the senior appointments.

If we had put in place a Garda authority, one of its functions would have been to establish promotional procedures and ensure their implementation, and to ensure that recruitment took place in a transparent fashion. There is no doubt that the final ratification would come through the Government. However, there are currently officers in place who do not command the respect they should because of the use of the existing mechanism.

The issue of accountability is not addressed in the legislation because we do not have the structures to address it. The Minister puts the emphasis on the persons, the role of the Garda Commissioner, the Minister and the inspectorate. This is not a satisfactory structure to ensure transparency. I hardly need remind the Minister of the criticism by Mr. Justice Morris with regard to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, and the Minister, not knowing what was going on in the Garda Síochána. The Morris tribunal report arrived just a couple of weeks ago so we must take it that up to the present, the Minister, Ministers of State and the Department did not know what was going on in the Garda Síochána, that they simply take on trust whatever they are told. The Department is no wiser than the Minister, with the Garda Commissioner channelling information to the Minister, and there are no structures in place to check the validity or accuracy of what is being channelled.

The Morris tribunal report determined that this was the fatal flaw in the chain of command, that there was no oversight, from the gardaí on the ground to the superiors in Donegal supposedly exercising a supervisory role, to the Garda management in headquarters in the Phoenix Park who should have been checking on everything and should have known what was going on, to the Department and the Minister. All along, there was a line of communication, but none of validation. That was missing.

The Minister said that his line of validation will come through the inspectorate and the extra powers given to the Garda Commissioner. There is no hands-on structure there to allow oversight. An inspectorate will be hit and miss, and here and there. It will look at stations, it will be an audit mechanism, will perform different tasks given to it by the Minister and will report back to him. That is not the same as a transparent structure or one which will have the powers to ensure accountability and oversight.

We need to look at the Garda operational strategy, budgeting, administration, reporting, annual plans and reports. Who will do all that? Will the Commissioner do it? I am not sure. It is doubtful if the Minister will do it, and the Department will not do it. The only check on all that is the Committee of Public Accounts. It will look at a narrow area of operation, the accounting and auditing section, at value for money. It will not have the broad spectrum of activities of the Garda under the microscope. It will be able to look at Garda operations perhaps only once a year. The inspection will not take place on an ongoing basis. There is no ongoing oversight or administration.

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