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

It can be provided for and will be provided for.

Like the private sector, such a body could monitor trends among competitors, modernise and even keep ahead of the pace. These ideas should govern the thinking of top Garda management. We need to constantly look at other police organisations comparing and contrasting and taking the good and benefiting from the experiences of similar jurisdictions around the world. That is why the authority would comprise civilians with extensive experience of change management and strategy in both public and private sector positions.

I see the independent Garda authority driving the agenda for root and branch reform in a number of areas. Garda rostering wastes a considerable amount of Garda resources each year. A reasonable question put to us is, why do most crimes take place when most gardaí are off duty? These are the types of questions ordinary citizens ask us and to which we do not seem to be able to give reasoned answers.

Fine Gael believes the authority will have to demand best international practice in all areas of management, including taking responsibility for recommending senior Garda appointments to Government and opening Garda recruitment to external candidates. People like Kathleen O'Toole, to whom I give credit for her work to date, have shown there is a wealth of international policing experience. Irish private sector experience could be brought to bear on the problems and issues that face our police force. That issue needs to be looked at.

We also need to look at what happens in other countries and at the benefits produced. I will not go back over the simplistic, silly zero tolerance approach of the Minister's predecessor who sold a pup and a slogan to the public. However, I went to the trouble of looking at what happened in New York from the point of view of achieving reduction in crime. Commstat, which was introduced there, is genuinely worth looking at. That approach involved comparing and contrasting the performance of different precincts in New York city. That is the type of idea which should be looked at by a Garda authority and discussed with the Commissioner and top management to establish whether it, or a variation of it, could be used here. Let us not try to reinvent the wheel from the point of view of some of the reforms at which we are looking. Let us see what has worked elsewhere.

In that regard, there are undoubtedly huge discrepancies in Garda regional successes. On a number of occasions, we have highlighted the huge differences in detection rates throughout the country. In many ways, there should not be any great difference between the Garda divisions. A person robbed in Bantry should expect the thieves to be caught as much as the person robbed in Ballsbridge, Ballyjamesduff, Ballyhaunis or Belleek.

The authority would also have a role in regard to the Garda annual budget, would report to the Minister on progress on given policy areas, ensure inter-agency co-operation, maintain close ties with the Northern Ireland Policing Board, look at issues such as the retirement age for senior gardaí and make recommendations to Government on the numerical strength of the force rather than rely on ministerial pronouncements and false promises at election time. There would also need to be arrangements for accountability to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, to keep him or her informed of the authority's meetings and decisions and, as has been mentioned, arrangements to ensure the Minister continues to be accountable to the Oireachtas.

The most important changes a new Garda authority would make would be to the organisational structure of the Garda Síochána. In this regard, the recent report of the Garda inspectorate was very useful. We will have to seriously address the fact that management of the Garda is top heavy with a large number of senior personnel responsible for top level implementation of policy and change management. An authority such as that I describe has a major role in producing the type of modern streamlining necessary.

Such an authority would have a huge role from the point of view of civilianisation which has been talked about for years but not delivered. There are two aspects to civilianisation, including the release into the front line of gardaí currently locked behind their desks. They would be replaced by civilians. There is also the point raised again recently by Kathleen O'Toole, the inspector, in regard to additional support for the Garda Síochána so it can do its job more effectively in the future with further civilian support. I see no great provision for the adoption of that approach by the Minister and the Government. Given that this Government has been in power for so long, one must question why civilianisation has not been implemented so far.

I have highlighted ridiculous situations but the one which really caught my fancy was the Garda press office which comprises 14 gardaí and one clerical civilian. From the point of view of press and public relations, it would not strike me that training in Templemore was an absolutely necessary ingredient.

The other issue about which the public always wants to talk is more contact between gardaí and the public not only at checkpoints but in their communities and on the streets in our villages and throughout our cities. This leads on to the issue of community policing on which there have been many reports. However, they have not been implemented to any great degree. One of the relevant issues is the need for contact between people and the Garda. This contact would have significant benefit from the point of view of intelligence and information being made available to gardaí.

Another issue is the importance of Garda courtesy when dealing with the public. Yesterday morning as I was coming into the House a young female garda greeted me brightly and cheerfully with a "Good morning Jim, lovely day". This is the kind of approach we would like to see from force members. We like to see they are prepared to make contact with people in a vital and friendly way and that they do not treat everybody as a possible suspect for a crime. Obviously, gardaí must deal with tough eggs from time to time and that particular approach might not always be appropriate.

Courtesy is particularly relevant at checkpoints. I am all for checkpoints, the enforcement of the law and random breath tests etc., but there must be interaction with people. The approach used should always be to treat people in as courteous a way as possible. In general, we want to see the Garda Síochána relate more to people in the community. We want to see real community and neighbourhood policing where gardaí meet the people and do not just cruise around in police cars. I understand the need to use modern technology and equipment, including cars, but as a wise man once said to me, he never made a friend through the window of a car.

The core of policing is solid and continued training and this is an issue of significant concern to me. The continued training of gardaí has not been adequately resourced. I have highlighted various issues from time to time, such as driving, the use of firearms etc. We must obviously develop the Garda college in Templemore to its maximum extent, but we must also provide improved Garda training through additional facilities throughout the country. Templemore will remain the base of Garda training operations, but new and innovative centres should also be established to train gardaí in specific areas such as urban crowd control, traffic management, human rights, sexual offences, firearms training, legal training and specialised training in other areas.

Third level education is another issue that should be considered. Army and Naval Service cadets attend third level colleges and we should look at the idea of young gardaí mixing with other young people in an academic environment.

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