Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann:

notes that:- members of An Garda Síochána play a hugely important role in Irish society and that public trust and confidence are crucial elements of effective policing;

- there is an immediate need to reassure the public that urgent action will be taken to implement real reform, cultural change and oversight of the management of An Garda Síochána;

- the final report of the Fennelly Commission of Investigation (Certain Matters Relative to An Garda Síochána and other persons) has been published and its findings are alarming;

- accountability structures within An Garda Síochána are inadequate and need to be strengthened and made more transparent so that there is real accountability for Garda wrongdoing and-or mistakes;

- section 11(1) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 stipulates that a person who holds the office of Garda Commissioner can only be removed from office by the Government for stated reasons, including where the person’s removal from office would in the Government’s opinion be in the best interests of An Garda Síochána; and

- section 11(2) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, as amended by the Garda Síochána Policing Authority Act 2015, provides an important and unique role for the Policing Authority in respect of the person who holds the office of the Garda Commissioner;condemns that:- there were 146,865 District Court summonses for road traffic offences wrongly issued and that 14,700 convictions were wrongly imposed upon members of the public as a result of shameful errors by An Garda Síochána;

- there were 937,000 breath tests that never occurred but which were falsely, and probably dishonestly, recorded by members of An Garda Síochána on the Police Using Leading Systems Effectively, PULSE, system as a result of deplorable wrongdoing by An Garda Síochána;

- the members of the public who were wrongly convicted were not informed directly by An Garda Síochána or any other agency of the State about their wrongful convictions, notwithstanding the fact that An Garda Síochána and the State were aware from July 2016 that members of the public had been wrongly convicted of these offences;

- An Garda Síochána was notified of discrepancies in its breath test data by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety in 2014, by an audit in its southern region in 2015, and by a national audit that commenced in 2016, which revealed in 2016 that its data could not be reconciled, but did not inform the public or the Policing Authority of these discrepancies until its press conference on 23 March 2017; and

- there has been a lack of progress in implementing reforms recommended by several Garda Inspectorate reports;acknowledges that:- the Garda Commissioner has accepted that An Garda Síochána recorded numbers that were false and, that this was at worst deception and at best incompetence, but either way it was individually and organisationally shameful;

- the Garda Commissioner believes that this falsification may not be confined to traffic data and that there may be more revelations;

- such dishonest and unethical behaviour by An Garda Síochána is totally unacceptable;

- these revelations have raised very serious issues about the management of An Garda Síochána;

- there is increasing public concern and diminishing public confidence in the management of An Garda Síochána;

- there is increasing public concern and diminishing public confidence in the administration, direction and supervision of An Garda Síochána;

- there is an urgent need to strengthen the management of An Garda Síochána;

- there is an urgent need to strengthen the oversight of An Garda Síochána; and

- there is a radical need to provide for ongoing professional development to ensure that members of An Garda Síochána are trained for the challenges posed by policing in the 21st century;calls for:- the Government to take immediate steps to rectify this real and substantial crisis in confidence in An Garda Síochána;

- the Government to request the Policing Authority to assess the role and capacity of the Garda Commissioner to restore public confidence in An Garda Síochána;

- the Government to empower the Policing Authority so that:

- it will supervise the functioning of the Garda Commissioner’s office and supervise the discharge of these functions by the Commissioner;

- it will oversee the performance by An Garda Síochána of its functions relating to policing services; and

- it can establish and impose policies and reform measures for An Garda Síochána which shall be binding on all members of An Garda Síochána; and

- the implementation of the recommendations of the report of the Fennelly Commission; andfurther calls for the Government to establish an independent commission of An Garda Síochána that would examine and report on:(a) the adequacy and appropriateness of the policies and procedures which underpin the operation and performance of An Garda Síochána;

(b) the full implementation of the Garda Inspectorate reports of 2014 and 2015, within a tight timeframe;

(c) improvements to basic Garda training;

(d) the recruitment of civilians at senior managerial levels of An Garda Síochána;

(e) the recruitment of persons directly at sergeant, inspector or superintendent level;

(f) the introduction of practices to allow gardaí to be promoted internally, without being required to return to uniform duty;

(g) the extent of the responsibilities that the Department of Justice and Equality has for An Garda Síochána and whether this should be reduced;

(h) the separation of security matters from An Garda Síochána;

(i) the strengthening of the role of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission;

(j) the ongoing training of members of An Garda Síochána on basic core skills of ethical policing;

(k) improvements to professional development and progression within the force; and

(l) the introduction of a professional development structure that would allow better supervisory mechanisms and more accountable management structures to be put in place in order to improve Garda services to citizens, boost morale and build up public trust and confidence.

I wish to share my time with Deputies John Curran, John McGuinness and James Lawless.

On 23 March 2017, some 19 days ago, members of An Garda Síochána held a press conference in Dublin at which they informed the public of two extraordinary pieces of information. First, they informed the Irish people that between the years 2006 and 2016, some 14,700 wrongful convictions had been secured in the District Court as a result of errors made by An Garda Síochána. Those individuals had been convicted, and they should not have been convicted because they either never received a fixed-charge notice in the post or they received a fixed-charge notice and had paid it. Nonetheless, they were wrongful convictions and the only explanation that could be given by An Garda Síochána at the press conference was that this was caused through an error in the manner in which gardaí processed the cases.

The second piece of information was equally as extraordinary. They announced that between November 2011 and November 2016 the Garda falsely recorded 937,000 breath tests on the Garda PULSE system. We know from that period that, in fact, only 1 million breath tests took place, but the Garda stated that there were 1.9 million tests recorded on the PULSE database. When asked at the press conference for the explanation for this, the Garda representatives said that there was no one single reason that may account for the discrepancy.

That evening, Fianna Fáil issued a statement in which we said that the announcement by An Garda Síochána was scandalous and that we required answers as to why there were 937,000 breath tests falsely recorded and why there were 14,700 wrongful convictions. As a result of our intervention, the Garda Commissioner issued a statement on Saturday. After that, the Commissioner and other senior members of An Garda Síochána held a press conference on the following Monday. Thereafter, the Commissioner and her senior management attended a hearing of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice and Equality on 30 March. I regret to say that throughout all of those public appearances the Garda representatives were not able to give a simple explanation to the people of Ireland as to how and why these extraordinary events took place.

Regarding the 14,700 wrongful convictions, we know that these convictions were made known to An Garda Síochána in July 2016. We know from answers the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality gave to the Dáil on 28 March 2017 that she and her Department became aware of the general fact that there were wrongful convictions - not the numbers of wrongful convictions - in June 2016. It is extraordinary that, to date, those 14,700 wrongful convictions remain on the criminal record books of the State. To date, it appears that nothing has been done to seek to overturn the convictions. I know that most attention has been devoted to the 937,000 false breath tests but I will say it again: it is a blemish on the criminal justice system that we allow these 14,700 wrongful convictions to remain on criminal justice records. As far as I can see, no steps have been taken by anyone, including An Garda Síochána, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Government or any other entity of the State, to seek to quash these convictions. We have been told that they may be appealed by the prosecuting authorities but we know this is nonsense.

The breath test situation has an extraordinary history. We know that in April 2014 the then Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport contacted the Garda Commissioner and told her there was a complaint about improper activity around the recording of breath tests. We know that in July 2014 the Medical Bureau of Road Safety, of its own accord, contacted An Garda Síochána to tell it that the figures for breath tests were wrong. The bureau pointed out that the Garda figures did not coincide with its figures. We know that between June and November 2015 An Garda Síochána commenced an audit of the southern region which revealed significant discrepancies in breath test figures and that seven months later, in June 2016, the Garda commenced a national audit in respect of the breath tests. By November 2016, the Garda had enough information to prove that it could not reconcile the figures in its paper data with the PULSE data. At that stage, it knew it had a very significant issue. In fact, it must have known about it much earlier. That problem appears to have been solved in November 2016 yet nothing was done to bring it to the attention of the Policing Authority, the Government or to any other entity. There appears to have been a flurry of activity in February 2017. For some reason, and we have looked for answers on this, contact was made by An Garda Síochána with the Medical Bureau of Road Safety some days before 24 February 2017. As a result, the Garda got data from the Medical Bureau of Road Safety. This data indicated to the Garda the full extent of its failings in respect of this issue.

Many answers have not been given and it is important that we find those answers as soon as possible. The motion before the House seeks to identify the seriousness of the issue and to put forward some solutions. It is important to put on the record of the House what has happened. Fianna Fáil's motion recognises that there were 14,700 wrongful convictions as a result of shameful errors by An Garda Síochána. The motion also recognises that there were 937,000 breath tests falsely, and I regret to say probably dishonestly, recorded by the Garda on the PULSE system. The motion further recognises that such dishonest and unethical behaviour by An Garda Síochána is totally unacceptable and that these revelations have raised very serious issues about the management, administration and direction of An Garda Síochána. It also recognises that there is an urgent need to strengthen the management of An Garda Síochána and an urgent need to strengthen the oversight of An Garda Síochána.

The entity in this House that is responsible for issues concerning An Garda Síochána is the Government and the Minister for Justice and Equality. Regrettably, we need further impetus in order to improve An Garda Síochána. The Government must take immediate steps to rectify the crisis of confidence in An Garda Síochána and we believe that the Policing Authority has a crucial role to play in that regard. Since January 2017, the Policing Authority has been given a collaborative role in assessing the capacity of the Garda Commissioner to carry out her functions and her role. Our motion calls on the Government to request the Policing Authority to run and adopt the collaborative approach it has under statute to ensure the capacity of the Garda Commissioner to restore public confidence in An Garda Síochána can be properly assessed. We believe that is the best way to deal with the issues facing An Garda Síochána.

We also recognise that in the past we have always looked at issues involving An Garda Síochána with a rear view mirror to see what happened, be it a scandal or other issues. We need to have a Patten-like commission - Fianna Fáil put forward a proposal for this a number of weeks ago - to try to identify a plan for An Garda Síochána in the 21st century. I am pleased to see that the Government has agreed with that and today has put forward terms of reference upon which Fianna Fail will engage and collaborate with the Government. It is, however, important to have a plan for how we are to improve policing in the State over the next 70 or 80 years. Our motion sets forward a number of requirements that we believe the independent commission should adopt.It needs to look at, examine and report on the adequacy and appropriateness of the policies and procedures that underpin the operation and performance of An Garda Síochána; how we can improve basic Garda training; and the recruitment of civilians at senior, managerial levels of An Garda Síochána and the recruitment of persons directly into senior levels rather than them having to start off at the very bottom rung.

We believe it should examine the role played by the Department of Justice and Equality to see whether some of the functions the Department maintains in respect of the Garda should be transferred to the Policing Authority. We know there are concerns in respect of doing so because of the very sensitive security roles that An Garda Síochána plays. That leads into another suggestion put forward in the motion, that perhaps there should be a separation of security matters from An Garda Síochána. That is an extremely sensitive and important issue and is not something we should rush into, but it is an issue we believe this independent commission should consider. We also believe that ongoing training is needed for members of An Garda Síochána in respect of their basic core skills of ethical policing.

Historically, the people of this country have had a very good relationship with An Garda Síochána. The State has been served well by members of the force. They have given their lives to protect the people of this country. We need to recognise, however, that we are doing a service to the people and to An Garda Síochána by highlighting this issue and seeking to improve it. If we simply ignore it, we will be doing a disservice to An Garda Síochána. It is important that we as public representatives seek to enhance the credibility of the Garda. We want to enhance the confidence of the public in An Garda Síochána. That is the function of the motion.

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