Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)

I welcome the legislation. The focus is to ensure compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights and to allow the Garda to comply with the convention in carrying out its duties while also giving officers the legal powers to carry out their duties in gathering evidence. I tabled a number of amendments, some of which would add to the powers they have or make them more practical.

We discussed this issue on Committee Stage and while the Minister dismissed the point raised about the Northern Ireland police ombudsman, he did not deny that under the Act governing the independent police compliance commission in Britain, certain of its officers are prescribed as being capable of authorising surveillance under section 30 of the regulation on investigatory powers. I do not know how often that power has been used, if at all.

Given what we now know occurred in Donegal and given other incidents where members of the Garda Síochána have been found guilty, often following investigation by their own colleagues who caught them in the act, we know gardaí have been found guilty of crimes that carry a sentence of more than five years. Whether they got that sentence was up to the court. We know from the Morris tribunal that gardaí were involved in fabricating evidence, interfering with witnesses, assaults and the manufacture and planting of explosives. We also know of cases where gardaí were involved with drug smugglers, fraud, organised crime and major gangs. This is a fact of life.

Obviously, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission would not be involved in all such incidents, because that is the job of the Garda Síochána. However, if I or any other member of society went in the first instance to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to complain about a garda who was not carrying out his or her duty, the commission would be duty bound to investigate that complaint, because the complaint would be about the garda in question. For example, if I made an allegation of treason against a garda, the commission would have to investigate that, but the investigation would be very difficult because the commission operates from the outside in.

One of the powers that might help the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, especially in a case where the commission believed there was an organised group involved within the Garda Síochána - as there was in Donegal - would be to have the same power as the members of the Defence Forces or members of the Revenue Commission to carry out surveillance. This is not a power that is given lightly to any organisation and that is the reason we suggest giving it to a body set up by this House that has rules and regulations in terms of how it carries out its investigations. Restrictions in the Bill would also apply to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, which would mean the commission would have to justify its action to a court and ensure it was proportional and likely to be successful.

This is the most contentious proposal we have put forward. We agree with the thrust of the Bill and have welcomed it. We are not making the Bill a contentious one; the Minister is doing that by not accepting any amendment, which is a pity.

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