Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I must now deal with a postponed division relating to amendment No. 2 to the motion regarding the reform of An Garda Síochána. On Tuesday, 11 April 2017, on the question that the amendment to the motion be agreed to, a division was claimed, and in accordance with Standing Order 70(2), that division must be taken now.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I move amendment No. 4:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:

“notes that:

— members of An Garda Síochána play a hugely important role in Irish society and that public trust and confidence are crucial elements of effective policing;

— there is an immediate need to reassure the public that urgent action will be taken to implement real reform, cultural change and oversight of the management of An Garda Síochána;

— the final Report of the Fennelly Commission of Investigation (Certain Matters Relative to An Garda Síochána and other persons), has been published and its findings are alarming;

— accountability structures within An Garda Síochána are inadequate and need to be strengthened and made more transparent so that there is real accountability for Garda wrongdoing and-or mistakes;

— section 11(1) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 stipulates that a person who holds the office of Garda Commissioner can only be removed from office by the Government for stated reasons, including where the person’s removal from office would in the Government’s opinion be in the best interests of An Garda Síochána; and

— section 11(2) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended by the Garda Síochána Policing Authority Act 2015) provides an important and unique role for the Policing Authority in respect of the person who holds the office of the Garda Commissioner;

expresses serious concerns that:

— there were 146,865 District Court summonses for road traffic offences wrongly issued and that 14,700 convictions were wrongly imposed upon members of the public as a result of shameful errors by An Garda Síochána;

— there were 937,000 breath tests that never occurred but which were falsely, and probably dishonestly, recorded by members of An Garda Síochána on the Police Using Leading Systems Effectively (PULSE) system as a result of probable wrongdoing by An Garda Síochána;

— the members of the public who were wrongly convicted were not informed directly by An Garda Síochána or any other agency of the State about their wrongful convictions, notwithstanding the fact that An Garda Síochána and the State were aware from July 2016 that members of the public had been wrongly convicted of these offences;

— An Garda Síochána was notified of discrepancies in its breath test data by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety in 2014, by an audit in its southern region in 2015, and by a national audit that commenced in 2016 (which revealed in 2016 that its data could not be reconciled), but did not inform the public or the Policing Authority of these discrepancies until its press conference on 23 March 2017; and

— there has been a lack of progress on implementing reforms recommended by several Garda Inspectorate reports;

acknowledges and agrees that:

— the Garda Commissioner has accepted that An Garda Síochána recorded numbers that were falsified and that this was at worst done deceptively or was at best a result of wilful incompetence, but that either way it was individually and organisationally shameful conduct that has greatly discredited the operational integrity of An Garda Síochána;

— the Garda Commissioner has stated that this falsification may not be confined to traffic data and that there may be more revelations pending;

— such dishonest and unethical behaviour by An Garda Síochána is totally unacceptable;

— these revelations have raised very serious issues about the management of An Garda Síochána;

— there is increasing public concern and diminishing public confidence in the management of An Garda Síochána;

— there is increasing public concern and diminishing public confidence in the administration, direction and supervision of An Garda Síochána;

— there is an urgent need to strengthen the management of An Garda Síochána;

— there is an urgent need to strengthen the oversight of An Garda Síochána; and

— there is a radical need to provide for ongoing professional development to ensure that members of An Garda Síochána are trained for the challenges posed by policing in the 21st century;

calls on the Government to:

— take immediate steps to rectify this real and substantial crisis in confidence in An Garda Síochána;

— immediately implement outstanding provisions of the legislation governing the Policing Authority in order to further empower it so that the Policing Authority:— has responsibility for determining the priorities of An Garda Síochána and works in conjunction with the Garda Commissioner in the preparation of annual policing plans;

— consults with local communities and obtains their views and experience of policing and joint policing committees;

— conducts its functions without needing the consent of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality;

— holds the Garda Commissioner to account and the Commissioner to keep the Policing Authority fully briefed on relevant matters;

— has full independent capacity regarding the appointments of the Garda Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner and the Assistant Garda Commissioner following open competition by the Public Appointments Service based on best practice in recruitment;

— has the independent power to remove these senior officers;

— can deal with complaints against and discipline senior officers (Garda Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner and the Assistant Garda Commissioner);

— can monitor and address human rights and equality compliance by An Garda Síochána at every level of its operations and ensure issues identified by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission are dealt with;

— membership is increased to 21 and includes members with a variety of backgrounds and expertise including legal, human rights, academic, civil

society and law enforcement;

— is diverse in its membership and should include political representation decided using the d’Hondt method, independent members should be recruited through fair and open competition;

— membership, by statutory requirement, be representative of society;

— is supported in its work by a number of advisory groups, for example, on equality, human rights and youth affairs; and

— conducts unannounced visits in Garda stations and inspects any documentation relevant to their investigation;— immediately implement the recommendations in the report of the Fennelly and Morris commissions and fully implement the Garda Inspectorate reports of 2014 and 2015;

further calls on the Government to establish an independent Patten-style commission of An Garda Síochána;

further agrees that:

— Patten-style thresholds are the minimum reforms necessary and that the terms of reference establishing the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland must reflect, at a minimum, the standards of policing, police accountability and responsiveness to community concerns contained within the terms of reference of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland established by the Good Friday Agreement;

— the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland must, at a minimum, look at direct political control of An Garda Síochána, best practice in civilian oversight and accountability, independent professional scrutiny and the legislative steps needed to ensure proper professional standards are met;

— the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland must be equipped to look at issues of training and possible re-training and the governing, appointment and dismissal of senior Garda officers;

— the Government must ensure that any terms of reference for the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland address the workings of the Commission with regard to the widest possible consultation with civil society groups, individuals and non-governmental expert organisations and international expertise;

— the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland must ensure that there are clearly established arrangements to enable people and their representatives articulate their views and concerns about policing; and

— it is essential that the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland focuses on policing issues, but if it identifies other aspects of the criminal justice system relevant to the Garda, including their role in prosecution, then this should be highlighted too;

and calls on the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland to examine:

(a) the culture and ethos of An Garda Síochána;

(b) improvements to basic Garda training;

(c) the recruitment of civilians at senior managerial levels of An Garda Síochána;

(d) the recruitment of persons directly at sergeant, inspector or superintendent level;

(e) the introduction of practices to allow gardaí to be promoted internally, without being required to return to uniform duty;

(f) the extent of the responsibilities that the Department of Justice and Equality has for An Garda Síochána and whether this should be reduced;

(g) the separation of security matters from An Garda Síochána;

(h) the strengthening of the role of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission;

(i) the ongoing training of members of An Garda Síochána on basic core skills of ethical policing;

(j) improvements to professional development and progression within the force; and

(k) the introduction of a professional development structure that would allow better supervisory mechanisms and more accountable management structures to be put in place in order to improve Garda services to citizens, boost morale and build up public trust and confidence.”

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I move amendment No. 1:

To insert the following after “challenges posed by policing in the 21st century;”:

“declares its conviction that:

— the systems, structures and processes of Garda management are not fit for purpose and no longer command or deserve the confidence of the public, or of public representatives; and

— a transformative programme of renovation, reorganisation and reformation under statutory external direction and oversight is urgently required;”

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I move amendment No. 3:

To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:“notes that:

— 937,000 breath tests that never occurred were falsely recorded on the Police Using Leading Systems Effectively (PULSE) system, and that the existence of a problem in this regard was communicated to the Garda Commissioner, Nóirín O’Sullivan in 2014;

— there were 146,865 District Court summonses for road traffic offences wrongly issued and that as a result 14,700 people were subject to wrongful convictions due to shameful Garda error and were never informed of the error, nor received an apology directly from An Garda Síochána;

— the Garda Commissioner was notified of discrepancies in Garda breath test data by the Medical Bureau of Road Safety in 2014 but did not inform the public or the Policing Authority of these discrepancies until 23rd March, 2017;

— the Garda Commissioner has accepted that An Garda Síochána recorded numbers that were false, and believes that this falsification may not be confined to traffic data;

— the Garda Commissioner failed adequately to explain the cause of these errors;

— high-ranking members of An Garda Síochána, including the Garda Commissioner, have recently been accused of engaging in a systematic campaign to smear the character and reputation of Sergeant Maurice McCabe and other Garda whistleblowers; and

— there has been an erosion of public confidence and trust in An Garda Síochána including a lack of public confidence in the Garda Commissioner and senior Garda management to investigate possible Garda malpractice or corruption;

acknowledges that:

— An Garda Síochána should be held accountable in terms of their adherence to professional and ethical standards;

— section 11 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 states that:

— a person who holds the office of Garda Commissioner may be removed from office by the Government but only for stated reasons, including:

— the person has failed to perform the functions of the office with due diligence and effectiveness; and

— the person’s removal from office would, in the Government’s opinion, be in the best interests of An Garda Síochána;

— on notifying under section 12 (1) a person who holds the office of Garda Commissioner that the Government intends to consider removing him or her from office, the Government may immediately suspend the person from duty; and

— section 12 (1) (b) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 further allows that the Government shall give the person an opportunity to make representations as to why he or she ought not to be removed from office;

further notes that Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan has stated that she plans to continue in her position even if there is a Dáil vote of no confidence in her; and

calls on the Government to:

— immediately use the powers available to them under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 to notify Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan that they intend to consider removing her and to suspend her from duty while she receives an opportunity to make representations as to why she ought not to be removed from office;

— independently investigate the involvement of members of senior Garda management in malpractice, corruption and/or the harassment or smearing of whistleblowers;

— urgently review the situations in which people may be convicted for certain crimes on the word of a Garda Superintendent; and

— urgently review how An Garda Síochána can be made democratically accountable to the communities they serve, including the election of democratically accountable bodies empowered to decide on how policing is implemented, how policing resources are spent, and to hold An Garda Síochána accountable for their actions.”