Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the issue of staffing, like any other organisation, GSOC is planning ahead and identifying the type of staff it needs. It will have to go through the same official process and channels as any other organisation to appoint members. One of the Deputy's first questions concerned the overall improvements to GSOC.

One of the issues that has been raised repeatedly is the timeliness of processes. Currently, there is a twin-track process in place. First, it has to be decided whether the investigation will be civil or criminal. A complainant has to go through an entire process. At the end of it, if it is neither one or the other, they must go back to the beginning and start again. A new mechanism will be put in place to identify, at the outset, whether it is a potential criminal or civil investigation, thereby reducing the length of the process and the impact it can have on the person who has made the complaint or the individual against whom the complaint has been made to enable them to move on or to continue in their work.

One of the biggest issues that has been raised is the time it is taking for the complaints process to conclude. The new mechanism, along with the provision of additional staff and resources, will help with that. It will ensure the process is improved overall. We all agree there needs to be a level of oversight of An Garda Síochána. What we are doing with this legislation and through these proposed reforms is to ensure a structure is in place that is transparent and sets out the procedures and process for everyone involved.

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