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

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

I am sharing time with Deputy Lahart.

The last number of years have been very difficult for An Garda Síochána. Part of the reason they have been so difficult is that the force has been exposed to a series of events that have had the effect of damaging public confidence in the force. Before outlining some of those events, however, it is important to state that the Garda Síochána has many fine attributes. The men and women who serve in An Garda Síochána today are as committed and diligent as their forbears in the force who served during the last century. However, we must acknowledge that, perhaps because it is a different time, the Garda is being exposed to greater public scrutiny than was the case in the past. As a result of that greater public scrutiny, there has been a loss of public confidence in the Garda due to the events I will discuss presently.

I wish to acknowledge that when it comes to doing its primary job of fighting crime and protecting the Irish people An Garda Síochana does the job excellently. Recent events in respect of An Garda Síochána confirm that. Perhaps part of the difficulty for An Garda Síochána is that it finds the other aspects of the policing job, which require accountability, transparency and answering questions, difficult to deal with. The positive news, however, is the fact that it is an excellent force when it comes to fighting crime and defending the Irish people.

It is also important to acknowledge that politicians cannot simply state repeatedly that the responsibility to reform the force and to rebuild public confidence rests with An Garda Síochána alone. It is unquestionably the case that primary responsibility for trying to rebuild trust in the force rests with An Garda Síochána and particularly its senior management, but everybody has a role to play in this respect. Significant responsibility rests with the Government. The Minister, Deputy Flanagan, is new to the Department but since this Government came to power in May 2016 it has not come to grips with its responsibility for reforming and improving An Garda Síochána. That is not a criticism of the Minister but of the Government in general, in terms of how it has recognised and responded to the series of issues that have arisen in the force.

However, responsibility does not rest with the Government alone. All Members of this House have a responsibility, including the main Opposition party. We must recognise that the great power politicians in this House have is, first, to hold the Government to account and, second, to make laws. The Garda will only be reformed if we change the laws in respect of how it operates. That is not the only basis on which it can be done, but it will not happen without that. It is not just the responsibility of An Garda Síochána. It is also the responsibility of politicians. That is the reason I have put forward this legislation which we are now debating on Second Stage.

The series of issues that have given rise to a loss of public confidence in An Garda Síochána relate to matters pertaining to whistleblowing and the establishment of tribunals of inquiry. However, in my opinion the most significant damaging event that had an impact on public confidence in An Garda Síochána was the false breath tests and the convictions that took place as a result of individuals being prosecuted who should not have been prosecuted because they had already paid the fixed notice penalty. I should outline how we reached this point in respect of the false breath tests. On 23 March, senior members of An Garda Síochána announced that there were 950,000 false breath tests recorded on the Garda PULSE - police using leading systems effectively - system. At the time of making the announcement they stated that no single reason could be identified for so many false breath tests on the system.

That was an astonishing statement by An Garda Síochána. It was not acceptable or permissible for those members to make that statement and just leave it hanging. At the time my party stated that there had to be answers and accountability for it. Unfortunately, we got neither answers nor accountability. As a result, we made a significant and serious decision for the main Opposition party - we stated that we could no longer express confidence in the then Garda Commissioner. That decision was not taken lightly, but we made it due to the fact that there had been such a significant statement from An Garda Síochána yet there had been no answers as to how so many breath tests had been falsely recorded and there had been no accountability.

Subsequently, there was the investigation and inquiry conducted by Assistant Commissioner Michael O'Sullivan who reported in September 2017. He reported that rather than there having been 950,000 false breath tests, there was another half million, bringing the figure to 1.45 million false breath tests on the garda PULSE system. Assistant Commissioner O'Sullivan's methodology for this investigation was to examine approximately 2,100 checkpoints. He listened to some of the recordings of phone calls made by members of An Garda Síochána to the Garda information service centre after the checkpoints took place and on the basis of that assessment he determined that the figure in question was 1.45 million false breath tests.

Last week, the Policing Authority published the report by Crowe Horwarth which it had commissioned into the matter. The report stated that the figure for false breath tests on the garda PULSE system was not 1.45 million but 1.85 million. That PULSE system has a total of 3.2 or 3.3. million breath tests recorded on it. This means that more than 50% of breath tests recorded on the PULSE system have been categorised as false by the Policing Authority and An Garda Síochána.

This House must take steps to deal with this issue. I introduced the Bill we have before us some months ago following the initial announcement by An Garda Síochána in March 2017 that there had been 950,000 false breath tests and since then, the figure has risen to 1.85 million. We need to do something, not specifically on the breath tests but to change the way that An Garda Síochána operates so that things such as this do not happen in the future. We keep telling An Garda Síochána that this cannot happen again, but if we want it not to happen again, we must change the law.

I will identity the particular sections in the legislation before the House. The first significant proposal is in section 2 of the Bill which provides for an amendment to section 41(a) of the principal Act, the Garda Síochána Act 2005, as amended by the 2015 legislation which established the Policing Authority. The Policing Authority is a significant addition. It is the mechanism that we should use to ensure that reform of An Garda Síochána takes place. The Policing Authority has been given certain functions and responsibilities by this House through the primary legislation by which it was established but what we must recognise that under this, there was no obligation on An Garda Síochána to inform the Policing Authority about its audit into the false breath tests which was being undertaken across the country. That is why in section 2 we seek to introduce an obligation on An Garda Síochána to inform the Policing Authority about any matters which have required an internal review, audit or examination of the functions or operation of An Garda Síochána, and which were requested by the Garda Commissioner, deputy commissioner or any assistant commissioner. This means that only significant internal reviews and audits would be obliged to be reported to the Policing Authority. It is astonishing that the Policing Authority was not apprised of what was happening in An Garda Síochána regrading the false breath test review until the early part of this year. It was an issue which had been ongoing within the force since 2015 which is when the Policing Authority should have been informed.

In section 3, we seek to give power to the Policing Authority to be able to dismiss a member of An Garda Síochána if in the extraordinary circumstances of the case, the member's conduct or his or her continued membership or position would undermine public confidence in the gardaí and the dismissal of the member is necessary to maintain that confidence. This gives the Policing Authority a significant power, and it is a power that we believe it should have. There will only be real reform in An Garda Síochána when its members perceive that there is an oversight body with significant powers and responsibilities over the force. In section 4 we also seek to give powers to the Policing Authority to supervise the functioning of the Garda Commissioner's office and to supervise the discharge of functions by the Commissioner.

The final substantive section is in section 5 where we seek to give powers to the garda inspectorate to be able, if necessary, to enter, inspect and review any garda station or premises without prior notification. We put these down because we think it will add to and build up confidence in the force once more. Gardaí are in the strong position to know that the public has faith in An Garda Síochána and want it to succeed. Confidence in the force has been damaged and we need to help in its rebuilding. This legislation will assist in that.

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