Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Amendment No. 102 concerns the accountability section under Part 5. I am talking about accountability and do not understand how that could not be relevant. It is part of it.

The Commissioner's duty to provide an update regarding policing in the State remains owed to the Minister, not the board. Again, this is in contrast with what was proposed in the heads. Recently, policing plans published by the Garda Commissioner before the final legislation was even published refer to the Garda Commissioner looking forward to working with the new authority as part of a collaborative approach. Clearly, this indicates the Garda Commissioner does not expect to be accountable to the authority and that it is more a case of working alongside it. If the authority is to have any meaning, the Commissioner will have to be accountable to it. If the authority does not have this status, it will be very weak.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission's recommendations are that the authority directly supervise the functioning of the Garda Commissioner's office and the discharge of functions, including the supervision of national security and policing, that the authority discipline, appoint and dismiss senior gardaí, including the Commissioner, that senior gardaí, including the Commissioner, be fully accountable solely to the authority, and that the authority be entitled to issue policy directives to An Garda Síochána. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties also recommended that the Commissioner be accountable to the authority in the performance of his or her functions. Clearly, the Commissioner will not be accountable to this new body, and the new body will not have the teeth it would require if it were ever to be an independent policing authority. The arrangement leaves too much to be desired. The Government can flag it as massive reform and a great step forward, but it does not bear close examination. It just does not stand up to scrutiny. We are not alone in believing this. It is unfortunate that people such as Dr. Vicky Conway and Professor Dermot Walsh were not asked by the Department how they would proceed. Those individuals are very qualified and very well-informed and they have examined international best practice. They have a lot to say on how the policing authority should be structured. It is a missed opportunity that they were not engaged.

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