Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 7 to 10, inclusive, together.

In December of last year, the Government published A Policing Service for the Future. This is a four-year plan running from 2019 to 2022 to implement the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland.

The plan was developed in co-operation with stakeholders, in particular the Department of Justice and Equality and An Garda Síochána.

The plan is set out across four key phases: building blocks, launching, scaling and consolidation. The first year of implementation, 2019, comprised the building blocks and launching phases. Both phases are six months in duration and were necessarily short to ensure momentum and show progress at an early stage.

As recommended in the commission's report, implementation of the plan is being overseen by a dedicated programme office in the Department of the Taoiseach. The programme office is resourced with appropriate expertise in the areas of project management, policing, justice and public service reform.

The plan is a living document and throughout the implementation process, the policing reform implementation programme office will be reviewing and updating the plan as required on a biannual basis and maintaining ambitious but realistic commitments, timeframes and milestones.

As the transformation programme progresses, detailed actions and key milestones for future years will be agreed and documented. The programme office is currently working on detailing actions for the scaling phase of implementation.

An implementation group on policing reform has been established with a former member of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland as its independent chair. The group has collective responsibility for the delivery of the plan.

Its core membership comprises senior officials from the organisations most closely involved in driving the transformation programme. These are An Garda Síochána and the Departments of Justice and Equality, the Taoiseach and Public Expenditure and Reform. Senior representatives of other relevant Departments and agencies are also involved in this group's work.

A high-level steering board, chaired by the Secretary General to the Government, is in place to help guide the work of the implementation group on policing reform.

Political oversight of the implementation of the plan is provided by the Cabinet committee on security.

Much has been achieved to date in 2019 under the plan. For example, a human rights unit has been established and the strategic human rights committee re-established in An Garda Síochána. An organisational census of An Garda Síochána has been completed. Phase 1 of the investigation management system has been implemented. Computer-aided dispatch has been deployed in the western and northern regions. The senior management team of An Garda Síochána has been trained on governance responsibilities. The director of the national security analysis centre has been appointed and the centre itself established. The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2019 has been enacted. The Government has given approval for legislation to be drafted to underpin the use of recording devices, including body-worn cameras, and for codification of legislation defining police powers of arrest, search and detention.

Two infographics on the progress made under A Policing Service for the Future have been published by the policing reform implementation programme office and are available on the policing reform portal on gov.ie.

See this speech in context