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

This is probably one of the key aspects of the Bill but it is a much watered down version of what we thought would be in the legislation. It is in sharp contrast to the legislation Deputy Wallace published for a genuinely independent Garda authority, which was allowed to go to Second Stage. That Bill proposed that the board and the Commissioner would be responsible for drafting a code of ethics for the Minister to establish by regulation, with the approval of the board. In addition, a code of service would be drawn up setting out standards of efficiency and service that the public could expect from gardaí. This is important because complaints in that vein cannot currently be made to GSOC.

This is a critical section of the Bill. In the press releases the Minister sent out more than a year ago, it was lauded as a great step forward but as Deputy Wallace said, the code of ethics was always there under the 2005 Act. It is just that successive Ministers chose not to implement it. As regards this pre-existing code, the Minister is saying she will bring it in but no disciplinary sanction will be in place for violating it, which makes it utterly ludicrous.

The Bill states that the authority will draw up a code of ethics that includes standards of conduct, practice for members and internal whistleblowing provisions. However, these will have to be done with a range of bodies such as the unions, as Deputy Wallace pointed out earlier. The problems that have got us to this stage mean the dogs on the street know we need an independent Garda authority. One of the reasons for that was precisely due to the lack of adequate provision for, and measures concerning, Garda whistleblowers.

As recently as two weeks ago, Deputy Wallace put these questions to the Minister for Justice and Equality under the so-called new Garda Síochána, with a new Minister and a new Garda Commissioner, albeit 18 months old so not really that new. In fact, the current treatment of whistleblowers is absolutely dire. Subsequently, the position of Garda Keith Harrison has been vindicated by the State pulling out of a High Court action it had taken against him at enormous personal and emotional cost, not to mind the cost to the taxpayer of a ludicrous, vindictive action. It is worth saying that the judge in that case was the senior counsel during the Morris tribunal. It is quite clear that from his stance, nothing has really changed in the sense that he awarded full costs to Garda Harrison.

This is important because why else are we here discussing a policing authority? It is to have independent scrutiny and accountability of the gardaí. Unfortunately, however, that is not something that we are getting in the present arrangement. It was worrying to hear the reports on RTE radio on Sunday which referenced the fact that - subsequent to Deputy Wallace's intervention with the Minister the last time, when she could not say strongly enough how great the new Garda regime was - Garda whistleblowers were being frustrated, including by a lack of information being given to that garda's legal team. It was only as a result of those matters being raised here that files were released by Garda and sent to GSOC.

Given the current treatment of decent serving gardaí by senior management, there is clear and indisputable evidence of harassment and demonisation undermining their position. It is quite clear, therefore, ethics are lacking. We need a system in place so that can be properly dealt with. We also need to examine the whole area of human rights proofing. It is ridiculous that the Minister of State, Deputy Ó Ríordáin, went to the Seanad and said that human rights stuff would be better off with the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.

That body, the Minister's own watchdog, contributed to this Bill. In its observation, it said there should be disciplinary sanction. It said the role of the authority should be to authorise disciplinary sanction over senior gardaí. If we do not have this system of ethics properly established, then we will have a serious problem.

It would be entirely appropriate for the Minister to comment on the Garda Inspectorate's report which has obviously shocked people. It has also vindicated everything we have said - that nothing has changed inside the ranks of the Garda Síochána, except the faces at the top. I am surprised that people have not called for the current Garda Commissioner to resign because she is standing over a situation that is at least as bad, if not worse, than what the former Commissioner Callanan stood over. It is worse because the scale of the knowledge that is in the public domain has not been addressed.

The previous Garda Inspectorate's report gave a damning account of gardaí massaging the crime figures, for example. That resulted in the analysis of crime figures having to be withdrawn for a period. It is a very serious matter. We know for a fact that the massaging of the figures is still continuing. In recent weeks, in Superintendent Pat Murray's station in the midlands and in Athlone, we have seen direct evidence of at least eight cases where crimes were written down so that the original crime was reclassified as a more minor matter. There is clear evidence of massaging the figures - for example, changing burglaries to criminal damage, which is reclassification.

It is a very serious situation and the Garda Inspectorate was clear that there is a lawlessness out there that is not being addressed. To do that, we need a strong code of ethics with strong human rights at its centre. It is really regrettable that is not present in the Bill. The board should assess these matters annually as well as sanction. One of the reasons for such indiscipline at senior levels in the force, which is creating major demoralisation further down the ranks, is that nobody at senior management levels is being called to account for their actions. The points we have made previously about how people get promoted jar very much with ordinary decent members of the force.

We think this is a critical part of the Bill. What we are getting under the Bill, far from being a beefed-up code of ethics, is a watering down of a provision the Minister decided not to act on previously and it is critical if we are to really reform this.

I would like to hear the Minister comment on the points made by Deputy Wallace about why there is a need to consult with the Garda representative bodies and even more curiously the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. I am not sure what his role in human rights proofing of An Garda Síochána is or where that fits in.

This gets to the heart of much of what we are talking about. Why are we discussing a Garda authority Bill? It is because of the crisis in policing that occurred. New evidence in the latest Garda Inspectorate report indicates that those problems are there. As the Minister knows well, the hundreds of historical cases of Garda malpractice that had not been addressed and which landed on her desk show why we need a code of ethics. In that context, I was utterly shocked to receive a copy of the letter her office sent to Cynthia Owens on her case, which had been through that review mechanism. That review acknowledged deficiencies in Garda work. Exhibits, including the DNA on her murdered baby, were destroyed and lost. The internal review mechanism refers to a discredited review that was conducted into her case, a review which ignored and disagreed with the findings of the inquest which confirmed that she was the mother of baby Noeleen. The Minister's independent review mechanism relied on the person who carried out that review to tell that woman that nothing further would be done in her case. It is utter madness.

We have now had two independent reviews into her case. Neither of them bothered to interview the woman who was the victim of a paedophile ring, which she has alleged involved three gardaí as participants, making it very strange but relevant that exhibits then later go missing in that case. She was not even corresponded with. This is a serious problem and it will not go away just because those people have been told their cases got nowhere. These are the reasons a policing authority was put centre stage and they remain. Sadly, the measures the Minister has introduced in the Bill will not address such behaviour. If those who stand over these practices at the top are still there, why would a middle or lower ranking garda even bother to try to do their best?

See this speech in context