Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is true to say that there is a lot of executive action changing things. I know, for example, that the divisional structure, which was criticised by the inspectorate, is being changed. I know that there is a new ICT plan being put into the Garda.

There is a restructuring of the traffic section, as the Deputy knows. There is a whole range of things that are being implemented. The difficulty we have is that we are on a painful journey of reform and what we have seen in the last few days demonstrates that some of the cultural issues within An Garda Síochána have not been resolved by the programme of reform. I took note of the Garda Inspectorate's reports and agree there is a huge amount of recommendations therein to be implemented. We now have a Policing Authority, just one year in position, which is taking on a stronger role. We are on a journey of reform but there is no doubt that what we have seen today has shaken peoples' confidence in the way the system is working.

The Deputy has asked what a new review could do but this will not be a review like those of the past, where we looked specifically at whistleblowers, at one district or one segment of Garda operations. This will look at root and branch issues. For example, should we separate security from policing, so that we could have a different approach to policing and different forms of accountability? That has been discussed in the past. Those issues are now on the table. We recognise that cultural change within An Garda Síochána will need more than just the approach that has been adopted to date. That is not to say that many of the proposals in the Garda Inspectorate's reports and the proposals from the Policing Authority are not on the right track. However, when we turn up stones and find the scale of what happened on this occasion, we cannot just turn around and say it is business as usual and this will work. This has exposed real problems and the Government feels that we must address them in a different way. We must look at more serious structural issues as well as the ones that are already being addressed. That is why we are open to discussing, not just within Government but with other interested parties, the way in which we should structure this. It will not protect us from other issues being found out but we must have confidence that we have a structure that will deal with those issues as they arise.

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