Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity) | Oireachtas source

The Fennelly report tells us many things. I want to focus on what it tells us about one matter, that is, a murder investigation. I am talking, of course, about the investigation into the murder of Mrs. Sophie Toscan du Plantier at her holiday home in west Cork in December of 1996 - an horrific crime.

The murder investigation team was based at the Garda station in Bandon. Their phone calls were recorded without their knowledge. The Fennelly report tells us that all bar a few of the tapes were destroyed in a flood at the station in November 2009. I wish to read into the record of the House part of what Mr. Justice Fennelly states about this issue in his report:

It is of serious concern that, in the small [number] of recorded calls available to the Commission, evidence is disclosed that members of An Garda Síochána involved in the investigation, including the officer responsible for preparing the report for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, were prepared to contemplate altering, modifying or suppressing evidence.

However, Mr. Justice Fennelly makes the point that the commission found no evidence that such actions were actually carried out. The report focuses on two instances in which gardaí appeared willing to contemplate allowing or encouraging false allegations to be made or false evidence to be given. The report highlights the case of an unnamed detective sergeant who considered doctoring a written statement prepared by another officer and removing detail from a second statement. A curious incident from June 1997 is recorded in the report. It concerns the case of a local Teachta Dála who was told over the phone that Mr. Bailey's rearrest was imminent. I wonder how common it is for Deputies to be informed of the next move in a murder investigation.

The question can be asked: is this a complete outlier? Is this murder investigation of a type which occurred in Bandon station but could occur nowhere else in the State? Are there other stations where murder investigations are carried out in this way or similar ways? This was a horrific murder, and whoever was responsible needs to be brought to justice, but the approach taken, as highlighted by Mr. Justice Fennelly, would undermine the chance of justice prevailing and does a complete disservice to the murder victim.

The issues focused on by Mr. Justice Fennelly in the report are just the latest scandal in a series of policing scandals in this State. We have had the scandal of what was attempted to be done to Sergeant McCabe, the way in which the other whistleblowers were treated, the faking of nearly 1 million breath tests and the nearly 15,000 false convictions. The Government talks about a root-and-branch review and assessment of the role of the Garda Síochána. It uses the example of, and quotes as a reference, the Patten inquiry into the Royal Ulster Constabulary. The Patten inquiry recommended the disbandment of the RUC.

I wish to outline aspects of our position on the question of the way forward for policing in this State. In the first instance, there should be an inquiry but it should not be an inquiry by the establishment into the establishment like so many other inquiries we have seen in the past. The ordinary people of this country whose taxes fund policing services and who are the policed, to put it that way, should play a decisive role in any inquiry, assessment or report that takes place. The biggest organisation representing ordinary people in this country is the trade union movement. There are, I think, more than 500,000 trade union members in the State. A way should be found for them to have a significant role to play in any such assessment. There needs to be a way for people who come from the thousands of communities across the country that are policed and for representatives from those communities to play a role in any assessment. This would represent a decisive role for ordinary people.

We need to see the removal of the Garda Commissioner from her position. Her position is untenable. We need to see the removal of the top brass from An Garda Síochána. It becomes increasingly clear that they are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Are reforms needed? Absolutely, but the sheer number of reforms required, and the far-reaching nature of many of them, means that what is required is a sharp break with the current policing model. Effectively, we need a new and different police force.

A cornerstone of policing must be the decentralisation of policing services. All these scandals have happened in a very centralised police force, which is unaccountable in any real sense, and that is not an accident. In reality, what we need is a series of local policing services. There needs to be democratic community control over policing. Local police services need to be run by democratically elected local committees. These committees should be allocated budgets and should decide the policing priorities in their own areas. They should be able to direct resources accordingly. There will, from time to time, be a need for initiatives and resources to organise policing on a national level, but the power should be delegated upwards, not in a top-down fashion as is currently the case.

There is no room for political policing. Special units, such as that appointed for Operation Mizen to spy on anti-water charge campaigners, should be disbanded. This would also involve the disbandment of the Garda special branch.

Policemen and policewomen should have the right to join a trade union. They should have the right, through their organisations, to have access not just to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, but also to the Labour Court. More than that, they need full trade union rights up to and including the right to strike. However, with rights come responsibilities. Never again should the communities in this country which the police are meant to serve be treated in the same way that communities were treated during the anti-water charge campaign. We saw the arrest of nearly 200 such campaigners over the course of those few years. In our view, that is a scandal on a par with all the others.

In a capitalist society, policing serves the interests of the ruling elite - in today's society, the interests of the 1%. Instead, we need policing which serves the interests of society and the majority in society, namely, the 99%. That is what we fight and campaign for and what we will continue to fight and campaign for.

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