Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

First, in reply to the Minister of State's last comment, given the considerable importance of this area, to which Deputy Mac Lochlainn referred, if the Constitution is preventing the Government from doing right in relation to policing, let us fix the Constitution and put the necessary issues to the people with a view to changing them in order that we can conduct policing better. It is a considerable challenge and we need to do it better. It is imperative that we address the obstacles that may lie in the Constitution.

The majority of this crazy bunch of amendments, numbering 74 in total, are under Part 2 dealing with the personnel and organisation of the Garda Síochána. The two main sections deal with appointments and a code of ethics. I have spoken on the appointments section. With regard to the code of ethics, as we mentioned, under the 2005 Act, as amended, section 17 sets out that the Minister shall establish by regulation a code of ethics, including conduct and practice, for members of An Garda Síochána following consultation with the Commissioner, who prepares a draft code, and following consultation with bodies, such as the Ombudsman and the Irish Human Rights Commission, and having regard to European standards. Neither this Minister nor any other Minister since 2005 has done this.

The Government came to office in 2011 and stated it would do things differently. It was a significant lapse of responsibility on the part of the previous Government that it did not address this issue. The current Government was going to do things differently and was going to be the coalition of reform. How was this completely ignored again for the best part of five years?

The 2007 discipline regulations set out that a breach of any code of ethics, if one existed, would be a breach of discipline and dealt with it in accordance with the procedures thereunder. The Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2014 we introduced proposed that the board and the Commissioner would be responsible for the drafting of the code of ethics for the Minister to establish by regulation with the approval of the board and that a code of service would be drawn up setting out standards of efficiency and service the public could expect from gardaí. Our Bill also inserted new sections 17A and 17B setting out that all Garda codes be published - another significant challenge that has gone ignored.

The Minister's Bill proposes that the authority shall, within 12 months, establish a code of ethics that includes standards of conduct and practice for members and internal whistleblowing provisions. However, the authority is obliged to consult more bodies than the Minister would have had to if she had ever drafted the code of ethics. For example, the authority will have to consult the Garda unions whereas the Minister would not have had to under the 2005 Act. The authority also has to consult the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. In addition to European policing standards, the authority must also have regard to the policing principles when drafting the code of ethics.

The clause that provides that a breach of the code of ethics is a breach of discipline, which was in the heads of the Bill published last autumn, is not in the final Bill. The code of ethics as guidance for gardaí in carrying out their functions was included in very important new policing principles and has been removed from policing principles. The 2007 discipline regulations ensure that a breach of the code of ethics, if it existed, would be a breach of discipline. However, the regulations are only secondary legislation and can be revoked at any point by the Minister. Regulations, when drafted or revoked, never come before the House for debate, but come under the exercise of the Minister's executive power.

The 2007 discipline regulations were made pursuant to section 123 of the 2005 Act, and the Bill proposes to remove section 123(2)(b), which allows the Minister to make discipline regulations that relate to failure to comply with the provisions of the code of ethics under section 17. The removal of section 123(2)(b) was not proposed in the draft heads. The draft heads set out that a breach of the code of ethics would be a breach of discipline. This is another serious and underhand row-back on what was promised. This would be obvious only after a very detailed examination of the legislation and the Minister has not mentioned it in any of her press releases or radio interviews, in which she has made much of the code of ethics for which the authority will be responsible.

Once the Bill has been passed, the reference to a breach of the code of ethics being a breach of discipline, set out in the 2007 regulations, will no longer be lawful. It will no longer be legitimised by the parent Act, given that the relevant section 123(2)(b) will have been deleted. It is a major failing of the legislation. While the authority will introduce a code of ethics with great fanfare, breaching it will not be a breach of discipline, due to changes in the Act. The fact that there will be no sanctions for breaching the code will make it meaningless.

We have made many of the points. We have prepared commentary on every amendment we have tabled. I could go through them all, but it is hard to have the will sometimes. We are just so disappointed. We have put much work into this, as has Deputy Mac Lochlainn. It beggars belief that the Government has had such a poor approach to it. All the talk about real reform and doing things differently in policing was the talk of the day 18 months ago. The Government agreed there were problems in policing and said it would address them and it could not be left as it was. However, we are getting more of the same.

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