Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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40. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of inquiries and tribunals into An Garda Síochána that have concluded or are still ongoing from 2012; if she will provide a summary of their interim findings and conclusions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24776/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will recall that counsel for the independent review mechanism examined 320 cases of allegations of wrongdoing or failure in An Garda Síochána. There were many different recommendations. The recommendation of counsel in five of those cases was that I should establish inquiries to inquire into certain aspects of the handling of the cases, some of which are very well known.

On Monday 15 May 2017, I established, by order, under section 42 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, the five statutory inquiries. I can go into further detail on that if required.

On 16 February 2017, I appointed a tribunal of inquiry. Mr. Justice Peter Charleton is getting on with that work and the first interim report was published on the website of the Charleton inquiry recently.

The Deputy will be familiar with the MacLochlainn commission of investigation, which was established in August 2014. It was an investigation into the fatal shooting of Mr. Ronan MacLochlainn by members of the Garda Síochána in the course of an attempted armed robbery in Wicklow in May 1998. It has not yet reported because there is an application in the High Court relating to it.

The O'Higgins commission of investigation was established in February 2015 to investigate and report on certain matters relative to the Cavan-Monaghan division of the Garda Síochána. I can go into detail on that if required.

The Fennelly report was also carried out, as was an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the taking into care of the children of two Roma families that led to the establishment of a special inquiry under section 42 of the Garda Síochána Act by the then Ombudsman for Children, Ms Emily Logan. That report was published in July 2014. A number of recommendations came out of that report. It found that there was some justification for the decision in one case, given the information initially provided by the Coombe hospital, but it was critical of other aspects of the decision.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Even in the Minister's response, we only got as far as 2014 in terms of the number of inquiries and tribunals. We have had recent scandals and internal investigations into Garda mismanagement and internal activities, including on breath tests, fixed charge notice penalties and Templemore. The commission has been established and Sinn Féin also welcomes it. It is proper that the commission takes a look at policing and security within this State and makes recommendations. However, we have had a litany of recommendations over the years through Garda Inspectorate reports, as Deputy O'Callaghan has mentioned. When we discussed this issue with the Minister, she gave a commitment that the work that the commission is going to undertake over the next 18 months would not impact on any reforms which need to take place. That should also include any proposals in terms of legislation being brought forward not only by the Minister's office but also by Opposition Deputies. It is important that we do not use the commission as an excuse or as a reason not to bring forward radical reforms within An Garda Síochána. Deputies O'Callaghan and Wallace and I have a number of legislative measures which we believe, were all-party cooperation in place, would leave us in a far better place than we are in today.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am certainly very open to working with the Opposition on any Bills that might be put forward. On the Policing Authority, I built into the legislation that there would be a review by the end of this year. I look forward to that review, and in the meantime, if Bills come forward from the Opposition I will certainly examine those. We are working on the Parole Bill brought forward by Deputy O'Callaghan tomorrow, and this morning I brought a memo to Cabinet concerning the issue of maternal inquests in order that we can move ahead with Deputy Clare Daly's suggestions in that regard. I am certainly open to working with the Opposition on the ongoing reform programme because I agree that we have to move ahead. The Policing Authority will do that and the modernisation programme and monitoring will ensure that those recommendations are taken forward. We can discuss them here and in the Committee on Justice and Equality. A second report from the Policing Authority will provide food for thought on the progress, and we can certainly make sure that such monitoring continues. It is a five-year programme and will not happen overnight.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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One advantage of the commission is that we do not have to wait 18 months for recommendations. While not wishing to interfere with the work of the commission, it is quite obvious that a number of immediate concerns need to be addressed by the commission and I hope they will be addressed in a timely fashion. If we are to restore public confidence in our policing services, then it is imperative that we do not wait 18 months for a report to be produced. There should be some sort of initial report conducted by the commission that could identify some clear areas where we could see immediate improvement. That would help in a small way to improve public confidence in our policing service.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I was determined, in establishing the commission, that there would be the possibility on an ongoing basis for immediate proposals and rolling recommendations for implementation, and depending on how the work is organised, I have no doubt that this will be possible. I am meeting Ms Kathleen O'Toole, who has agreed to chair the commission, this evening. She is in Dublin to begin the work and I will certainly convey the views of the House to her on that point. It came up in my discussions with the spokespersons for justice from the Opposition that if, having examined the overall situation, it was possible to have immediate recommendations - perhaps within a short period in some cases - we certainly would be open to taking those on board and implementing them as quickly as possible.