Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left) | Oireachtas source

The amendment deals with a new section on the idea of policing principles, which is welcome. However, it also gets to the heart of one of our objections to the Bill, which is the way in which the Government has rowed back between the publication of the heads of the Bill a year ago and the final product before us now. The idea of a code of ethics to guide gardaí in carrying out their functions was included by the Government under the new policing principles section in the heads of the Bill but it has been removed from the final draft. That sends a completely and utterly wrong signal. The way in which gardaí behave and how accountable they are to the public is critical to how the legislation is viewed overall.

To give an example, we were contacted early this morning by an older couple from the country. Earlier this year, their house was raided by armed gardaí allegedly looking for drugs. They did not find any drugs and there were no drugs or anything like that there. The couple felt incredibly vulnerable on foot of their experience. They made the point that they were not shown any warrant or authorisation to search the property. Nothing like that had ever happened to them before and they had no idea what to expect. They made the point that the gardaí who attended were incredibly polite, courteous and well behaved towards them and that they reinstated the property after the search as much as possible. They left it relatively tidy.

Why is this important? It is important on the one hand because the unfortunate interaction with An Garda Síochána resulted in them being treated respectfully and ethically on the one hand by some of the gardaí who attended but on the other hand the behaviour was not so good because proper procedures in terms of producing a warrant were not followed. That has had a devastating impact on the family. They had never had an interaction with gardaí over the course of the decades of their lives before. Since this incident, they have felt embarrassed around their neighbours. They were told they could get money back from the State Claims Agency for the damage that was done to their property but they have not been able to access that subsequently. They are suffering from health problems, waking up in the night and getting upset by noises in the house because of the experience they have been through.

When people interact with An Garda Síochána, it leaves a legacy. It can be a positive or a negative one. The purpose of the Bill and an independent authority to set a standard which can be independently scrutinised was proposed by us to increase confidence in An Garda Síochána. It was proposed on behalf of the decent gardaí who want to do the job they signed up for in the first place. The Government taking out and diluting a code of ethics is one of the most substantial aspects of the Bill. The Government had included it in the section under discussion in the heads of the Bill, but it has now removed it. I want to know why that is the case.

I also want to know the following. As it stands under the 2007 disciplinary regulations, a breach of a code of ethics, which has not been introduced by any Minister to date, would have constituted a breach of discipline. However, the regulations are secondary legislation and can obviously be revoked at any point by the Minister. The regulations are being removed in terms of the Bill before us. What we now have is the removal of the section that allowed a breach of a code of ethics to constitute a breach of discipline. The Minister, who I think is still in Malta, can ignore this part of it. She has been proclaiming that the Bill provides for a code of ethics for the first time, but this is not true. Provision already existed for a code of ethics but we should be very clear that the legislation before us waters it down. It means that where a garda breaches the code, there will be no sanction. This is unbelievable and a great example of the rowing back undertaken by the Government. We will make more points about the code of ethics but I would like the Minister of State to deal with why the Government removed it from the section between the heads of Bill being put forward and the final draft of the Bill.

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