Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

I always have great respect for the words of wisdom of the honourable Member from Tallaght. It is worth learning about what is happening on the ground in that area.

This is an important debate, as Deputy O'Connor said. We read in the newspapers every day about matters relating to the behaviour of members of the Garda Síochána. Such matters are of concern to communities throughout the country. It is time to address this issue. It was reported yesterday that the Garda Commissioner had sacked two gardaí who misbehaved while they were on security duty outside the United States Embassy in Dublin. The gardaí in question left their posts, went drinking in a local public house, had a personal dispute about the purchase of a round of drinks and ended up engaging in a bout of fisticuffs on the streets in full view of the staff of the embassy and some bemused members of the public. When one of the gardaí got into his car to drive home, he was stopped and charged with drink driving. Such "wild west" behaviour might seem like a rip-roaring comedy of errors, but it is unthinkable that two members of a modern, professional and efficient police force who were engaged in serious and important official duty outside a foreign embassy should act in such an irresponsible and indisciplined fashion in the middle of the day, in full view of the public.

A sub-committee of the Joint Committee on Justice, Equality, Defence and Women's Rights published its findings in respect of the various Barron reports yesterday. The finding of the sub-committee that was the subject of the most headlines was that there was collusion with loyalist paramilitaries in the cases of certain murderous bombings in the Republic in the mid-1970s. This is the fourth report to be published and I was involved in the first three. We came across serious issues of incompetence and negligence by the Garda. There was a failure to pursue investigations, a failure to contact or consult bereaved families, as well as an unexplained loss of documents and evidence and a failure to protect the scene of the crime. All these issues were part of what was going on 30 years ago.

More recently the Morris tribunal reports highlighted levels of garda insubordination, indiscipline and corruption that are mind-boggling and that border on betrayal of the uniform and the oath. In the past five years, 57 members of the Garda Síochána have been sacked or have resigned as an alternative to being dismissed. Moreover, Garda effectiveness in police work has deteriorated rapidly. The detection rate has dropped from a relatively satisfactory 46% in 1998 to an unsatisfactory 34% in 2005. The early ideals of the Garda Síochána have been badly tarnished by significant sectors of the force.

When the London Metropolitan Police Force was established in 1829, its first commissioners, Rowan and Maguire, wrote:

Every member of the force must remember that his duty is to protect and help members of the public, no less than to apprehend guilty persons. Consequently, whilst prompt to prevent crime and arrest criminals, he must look upon himself as the servant and guardian of the general public and treat all law-abiding citizens, irrespective of their social positions, with unfailing patience, courtesy and good humour.

These sentiments mirror the statement of Michael Staines, the first Commissioner of the Garda Síochána in 1922, when he said that "the Garda Síochána will succeed not by force of arms but by their moral authority as servants of the people". That was why we had an unarmed police force, which was unique at the time.

The restoration of the Garda Síochána to its former integrity can only begin to be achieved by establishing a Patten style commission on policing into the role, culture and structures of the Garda Síochána in the 21st century. A root and branch overhaul is urgently required. Nothing less will do. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform has funked the challenge and provisions of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 merely tinkered with the problems. There is no democratic oversight or accountability mechanism to direct, manage and hold the Garda Síochána to account at all times. The inspectorate, though laudable, is little more than an extension of the role of the Minister, acts on his instructions and reports to him. Likewise the ombudsman, though equally laudable, will deal with individual cases of complaint and will not be retrospective in its operation. Neither the inspectorate nor the ombudsman will direct, manage or hold the force accountable.

A Garda authority is essential to do all those things which the two new bodies cannot do, but as such an authority does not exist, there will be no ongoing democratic management, no supervision, no accountability and no direction provided to gardaí. The Garda Commissioner, the Minister and the Department will continue to rule just as before. A Garda authority is only a means to an end and is an effective democratic management tool. It will not of itself transform the force. It will not restore it to the ideals of its early days. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform turned his face against the only measure that could have transformed the force, restored its morale and made it an efficient professional and modern police force with ideals and integrity. He has lost a golden opportunity which may not be so readily available to a future Minister.

It is time to establish an independent commission on policing in Ireland. It would be similar to the independent commission on policing which was set up under the Good Friday Agreement in 1999 to create "a new beginning to policing in Northern Ireland with a police service capable of attracting and sustaining support from the community as a whole". Its terms of reference would require the identification and the setting up of new structures to ensure accountability, independent scrutiny and partnership with the community. Its methodology would involve a comprehensive consultative process. A public debate on policing in the 21st century would be initiated. The commission would take the debate to the highways and byways of the country. It would engage local communities in local parish halls across Ireland. Those professionally involved in policing would be consulted and best international practice would be ascertained.

The findings of the Patten Commission constitute a valuable resource and reservoir of material that can be drawn from and adopted. The Patten Commission was given 12 months to conduct its work and I believe that the new commission could complete its work in six to nine months. The process is crucial and a lasting new police culture of service can only be delivered if a sense of participation, responsibility and ownership is engendered in the consultative process. That applies to the public and to members of the force. They must participate and be engaged in the future of their service.

Education and training of Garda recruits has been carried out in Templemore College, County Tipperary, since the foundation of the State. The college in Templemore has served the country well and is internationally respected for the quality of work it does. It is located in a rural idyllic setting which is conducive to tranquil learning. The Minister recently constructed a four-storey extension to enable the training of an extra 2,000 recruits in the next couple of years. It is time we reviewed the role of the college in Templemore as the sole centre for the training and education of gardaí. A historic opportunity exists to locate a second Garda education and training centre in Grangegorman on the north side of Dublin. The Dublin Institute of Technology is building the largest third level college in the country on the Grangegorman site. A Garda Síochána college or a police academy could easily become the seventh faculty of the DIT. The 65-acre site has 30 acres of playing fields and will have a wide range of sporting facilities installed.

The site is in an inner city urban setting and reflects the general context in which most policing work is carried out. Modern Ireland has rapidly changed from rural to urban in character. Garda students would mix and interact with their peers in other third level disciplines, not just with their trainee colleagues. It is ideally located for in-service courses and for research studies in such areas as policing methods, crime statistics, criminology, substance abuse and community policing. All of these could be established and an integrated policy dimension could be added. It should be possible to share some facilities with the PSNI and to establish a link with the new police college in Northern Ireland. We could examine providing a centre of excellence for police forces from further afield. A Garda college in Dublin would not replace the Templemore college but add an extra dimension that would make the Garda Síochána a modern and professional force in tune with the best policing practice anywhere in the world.

I have come from the National Forum on Europe where I represent the Labour Party. The Chairman of that forum, Senator Maurice Hayes, was a valuable member of the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland and drew up the proposals for the ombudsman in the North. People think the ombudsman was part of the Patten commission proposals and do not realise that Senator Maurice Hayes had already developed the proposals before Patten had begun. He is a man with great expertise and experience. The forum model is interesting. It includes representatives of the Government parties and national Government organisations and the public is entitled to come and make submissions. It gives us an idea of what we could do if we were to engage in a proper dialogue on the future of policing in this country. Unfortunately we have not done that to date and it is time we did.

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