Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the points made by the Minister in regard to Part 4 of the Garda Síochána Act and the creation of capacity for the Garda Inspectorate to make unannounced visits. It is pretty much commonsense that that should be allowed because any notice in respect of a visit allows for preparation for it. It does not make any sense for someone in an inspectorate capacity to have to give notice of a visit.

I would like to address a couple of the recommendations. One of the recommendations states:

Enhanced powers for GSOC in relation to reviewing investigations. In unsupervised investigations, a complainant has a right to have GSOC review the investigation. However, the outcome stands.

That certainly needs to be addressed.

Just how the Minister will do that will be interesting. One can introduce rules and regulations until the cows come home but they must be implemented. Will there be sanctions if there is non-compliance? In light of how the Garda relates to GSOC, there is much speculation on how it will relate to the Policing Authority and Garda Inspectorate.

It goes without saying that we are still raising many issues that we find unsatisfactory in respect of how things are done but, being an optimist, I am of the view that change is coming, albeit very slowly. I acknowledge it is not easy to implement change.

In 2012, Deputy Clare Daly and I put a lot of time into examining how we do policing in Ireland. That is when the first whistleblowers came to us. There definitely has been some change in the past four and a half years, but probably not as much as we would like. When the former Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan, and the former Minister, Mr. Alan Shatter, departed the scene before mid-2014, we felt there would be serious change. There was a lot of talk about change. There was some but not nearly enough. I will address a few points in this regard in a minute. We have been raising many issues in respect of the new Commissioner. Obviously, from our perspective circumstances are far from what they should be.

Sadly, serious change is still to be made in the organisation. A huge cultural change is required. To achieve this, there will be a need for a change to the hierarchy in An Garda Síochána. When Northern Ireland considered replacing the RUC with a new organisation, which became the PSNI, Mr. Patten was adamant that the desired change would not occur until the authorities got rid of the hierarchy. They literally did so. They more or less paid off the staff in the top sections, moved on and created a new field of players at the top. That will have to happen here also.

In 2013 and 2014, we introduced policing Bills. In 2013, our recommendations were laughed out of this House. In 2014, our Bill was allowed to pass through the House but it did not get any further. Looking back at this matter today, I picked out a few points. Our Bill at the time proposed to set up an independent policing board similar to that of Northern Ireland in its powers and level of independence from Government interference. The Bill provided that the new policing board would appoint and remove the Garda Commissioner and deputy and assistant commissioners following consultation with the Minister, and that it would appoint superintendents and chief superintendents in consultation with the Minister. The Government's Policing Authority Bill, however, left the appointment of the Commissioner and deputy commissioner in the hands of the Government and allowed the authority the power to nominate in accordance with the recommendations of the Public Appointments Service, which provides us with one name only. That Bill also allowed that the Minister for Justice and Equality and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform would determine the number of appointments to assistant commissioner, chief superintendent and superintendent levels, but that the authority could may make these appointments subject to a selection competition. This left the system under the 2006 and 2014 regulations intact such that the selections are by the promotions advisory council and board, controlled by the Commissioner and Minister and which choose candidates for the authority to rubber-stamp. We are of the opinion that the Policing Authority needs to be made more independent of the Government. We still believe we need to further the depoliticisation of our policing service if we are to have the sort of service we would love to have.

Like Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring when she appeared before the committee, I believe GSOC is not yet in any way fit for purpose, as it should be. The Minister has agreed to make some changes. Every recommendation in the committee's report should be considered strongly. I acknowledge the Minister will implement some of them. When the Garda Inspectorate produced 200 recommendations approximately two years ago, the Commissioner said she would take some of them on board. She did but it is a pity she is not compelled to take all of them on board.

The Minister said she would publish the O'Neill report in the very near future. Could she confirm that she will publish it before the end of this month? What are her plans in this regard?

We can bring in various measures and make things better, which is good. Circumstances are improving. It is important to note that the people now expect a different police service. That places extra pressure on An Garda Síochána to consider how it operates. If we are really to have the police service we want, it is imperative to have cultural change. We need a change to and a clean sweep of the existing hierarchy in order to bring about that cultural change.

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