Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 1:

In page 3, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following:

“Amendment of section 65(1) of Principal Act

2. Section 65(1) of the Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (1):

“(1) The Ombudsman Commission is to consist of 1 member, who is to be appointed by the President on—

(a) the nomination of the Government, and

(b) the passage of resolutions by Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann recommending their appointment.”.”.

This amendment relates to the ambition of me and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality to move from having a three-person Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission with a chairperson to having a single Garda Ombudsman, as is the case in the North of Ireland, for example.

Members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality travelled to the North of Ireland and to Scotland to review their policing board models, Ombudsman models and criminal justice inspectorate models as part of our work leading to recommendations to the Minister for Justice and Equality. We found that the models in Scotland and the North had a single person responsible for police complaints and oversight, and the buck stopped with him or her. When it came to making a decision they made it - of course they relied on expertise. I see no reason for the Government not to support the amendment.

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