Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will get some information for the Deputies who have been making contributions on the current timeframes, because it is important that this information is in the public arena. They have improved considerably in recent times. To reiterate, GSOC does have the ability to decide on how the cases are handled, depending on the type of case it is, the seriousness and the level of supervision. I do not believe - I do not think anyone in this House would believe - that if a complaint is made about a guard from a particular local station it should be investigated in that station. That situation should not arise and it is up to GSOC and An Garda Síochána, when they are handling these cases, that this should not be the case. It is clearly a conflict of interest situation and I would expect it to be dealt with differently.

We are talking about an organisation of 13,000 people, plus civilians and the reservists. In any organisation of that size, and I say this to Deputy Mathews and others who have contributed on this, it is reasonable to expect that an informal resolution mechanism would be available. If somebody goes into a Garda station and feels they are being dealt with disrespectfully at the front desk, there ought to be a way to deal with that within An Garda Síochána. That is just an example. If there are other circumstances connected with that behaviour, clearly it might have to be dealt with elsewhere. I am just making the point that every organisation of that size would have mechanisms within it to deal with complaints internally or supervised from outside. Not every complaint in an organisation of maybe 14,000 or 15,000 members will be investigated by an outside body. One can imagine the level of resources required. All the Deputies are talking about resources. We must be realistic about an appropriate structure that deals in the right way with the serious cases, that refers them to GSOC, which has the right investigators to deal with them, which it does, and that provides informal resolutions for cases at the other end of the spectrum. We have given extra resources to it this year to carry out the work and as the work of GSOC expands, resources will be an ongoing issue, which the Government will continue to address. There is no question about that. In the meantime, a number of changes can be made.

In terms of this amendment, and I appreciate that Deputy Mac Lochlainn is not pressing it, I take the point that is being made. GSOC does have the ability to recruit independently. Obviously, the number of people who are recruited is dependent on the resources it has and it is in a position to recruit at present for the penalty points.

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