Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There has been a bit of a delay in commencing this Act. That is not completely the Minister's fault, but there is a concern as to why it took this long. I have no issue with passing these Votes. The Minister explained the position quite well. I do have concerns about how we got here. I am coming at this from the Eddie Molloy version of the original report, that is, the second version. Handing over the powers of the Policing Authority to the Garda Commissioner is wrong. If I was sitting where the Minister is sitting, I would reverse that immediately. I have to be honest about that, particularly as this is how we ended up with all the issues, tribunals and everything else previously.

The proposal to turn the Garda Commissioner into a CEO in order that he or she will be the Accounting Officer is very interesting, especially in light of the issues we have had in the past. What were Garda Commissioners doing in the past? What we should have done is allowed the Policing Authority, which was bedding in, to continue and given it additional further powers.

When we debated the legislation, I read the memorandum relating to it. I was shaken because the memorandum states that the legislation "will facilitate the Minister’s Department in pulling back from involvement in day-to-day management of An Garda Síochána while also providing objective assurance to the Minister in relation to governance standards within An Garda Síochána". Why would the Department of Justice be involved in day-to-day management of An Garda Síochána in the first place? Every response to parliamentary questions I have sent to various Ministers for Justice tells me that he or she has no role in the matter. To put that into a memorandum says a lot. The Department of Justice should not be involved in the day-to-day management of An Garda Síochána. The structures that are put in place have to be robust enough, otherwise the Oireachtas will have a job to do to ensure that standards are maintained and that there is accountability.

I have concerns about the way in which the board will operate. I also have concerns regarding senior appointments in An Garda Síochána and how they will operate. There is an issue historically whereby An Garda Síochána, at a certain level, has a certain culture, which is that it does not tolerate anybody who steps out of line when it comes to protect the public interest. I refer to people whistleblowing, making protected disclosures or just trying to do the right thing. We saw the farce regarding the issue with a bicycle last year. There are also a number of other issues, which I have raised in this Dáil with the Minister in the recent past and on which I am assured he went to the Commissioner.

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