Results 1-20 of 30 for gsoc segment:8172502

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

...investigation, and independence is the key to that. However, those systems must be transparent for the members who are under investigation. Therefore, a balance needs to be reached. In 2020, GSOC had a budget in excess of €11 million, 127 staff members and 1,900 complaints were open. You have to ask where the inefficiency is. Is it a confidence issue on GSOC's behalf if it...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

...member in the past three weeks who has been suspended for more than a year. He is unsure as to the reason for his suspension. It is not unusual for a Garda member to be suspended subject to a GSOC process and to hear nothing for years, with no communication or contact from GSOC. That is unacceptable. On the other question as to why GSOC takes so long; I have no idea. That is why we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

...Cunningham: Yes. This is one of the real concerns we have when talking about fairness. Every citizen is entitled to fair procedure and natural justice. The expanded powers and remit of GSOC will now allow it to go unsupervised and unquestioned about what is considered a reasonable investigation. GSOC can start an investigation on an incident of concern without notifying the member...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

...citizens. AGSI members are not looking for anything extra here. We acknowledge that here has to be a system to investigate members of An Garda Síochána who do wrong, but we would have to ask what powers is GSOC missing that now requires it to have these excessive, unfettered and unaccountable powers. It is not set out in the Bill why these additional powers of GSOC are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Mr. Derek Mullen: I would like to respond briefly to the last point that was made. Fórsa represents staff in GSOC. Much of our time today was spent discussing GSOC's role in investigations. I do not want to speak to that point but I would make the point in defence of the people in GSOC we represent that they operate under the procedures and legislation that are set down from time to...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Michael McDowell: ...the new body to be established. It appears to be a super inspectorate rather than a policing authority that would be generally known internationally. I want to pick up on some of the contributions made. On GSOC, it has to be accountable to somebody. If a particular matter is being investigated for three or four years, whether or not the garda is under suspension but even more so if he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

...this Bill. We only became aware of it when we discovered it on the Internet. There has been no consultation, which is regrettable because we feel we would have had something to offer. As regards GSOC, there is, it seems, no accountability by GSOC to anybody. It can continue its investigations for years. In some situations, members have been left in a limbo state for years, there has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Ms Anne Barry: GSOC is independent in the performance of its functions, as will be the proposed new Garda ombudsman under the new legislation. It is essential there would not be interference by the Minister. As a body under the aegis of the Department of Justice, however, it is subject to governance oversight by the Department, and arrangements are in place on governance agreements,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Robbie Gallagher: ...also want to come in, they should please feel free. Ms Cunningham, representing the AGSI, covered a wide range of issues and kind of zoned in on the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC. Perhaps she might expand on her members' concerns with regard to GSOC and where she sees that fitting into this proposed legislation. What does she or what do her members feel would be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Patrick Costello: I want to make a general point. An issue with GSOC is that it is currently burdened with opaque Byzantine structures and procedures. Ms Barry from the Department acknowledged that and said the drive to correct that is part of the reason for the reforms proposed in this Bill. As such, it is not fair to accuse GSOC or imply it is incompetent especially when it, in light of our requirements...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: Briefly, on the point regarding the delay and the time it takes to complete a GSOC investigation, my understanding is that in most cases GSOC will second somebody from An Garda Síochána from a different division or district to assist with an investigation. I get the impression, and I think this would be shared by most public representatives who would engage in this respect at...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

...;. Our general secretary, Superintendent Comyns, mentioned in his opening statement that we are charged with conducting those investigations. That is not by choice. We are doing it primarily on behalf of GSOC. We would welcome if GSOC took over those investigations and that we would not be involved in them. We are not seeking to self-govern. We accept the regulations. We accept the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

.... The Bill raises serious concerns about the constitutional, privacy, human and other rights of the members we represent. There is a clear absence of fair procedure evident in the new powers proposed for GSOC. The association has had serious issues with GSOC and some of the investigations it has carried out on our members. The extended powers it is proposed to give GSOC seem to be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

...tried to find out precisely why they have been suspended as well as precisely what the charge is they are required to answer. Second, as I mentioned earlier, there seems to be a problem with GSOC moving through the procedures at a reasonable speed. Recently, I have supported members who have been suspended for more than one year with zero communication and zero contact from GSOC. That...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Martin Kenny: ...view is it is to allow people who work closely with members of An Garda Síochána in Garda stations and who perhaps would have access to privileged information and so forth also to come under the remit of GSOC. I imagine that is one of the reasons for this. Does Fórsa see any other way in which that can be resolved apart from outside of the proposal in the legislation? I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Ms Antoinette Cunningham: I will come back to GSOC later if I have an opportunity. We feel that the Bill in its current draft creates more difficulties than reforms for An Garda Síochána and that it should be redrafted.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

James Lawless: When Ms Barry refers to Garda oversight organisations, does that mean GSOC or who does that mean?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Barry Ward: I agree. However, if a garda has been under investigation by GSOC for a period and does not know it, that in and of itself is not a problem. Would Mr. McAnenly disagree with me?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Niamh Smyth: ...are under investigation for a crime would enjoy better protections than rank and file gardaí or the force if under investigation under the proposed new body? My second question is in regard to GSOC and has already been alluded to. Does anybody know why the GSOC process in terms of the outcome of cases takes so long? Is there a breach of the right to fair trial around this? As...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality: General Scheme of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill: Discussion (15 Feb 2022)

Ms Anne Barry: I mean GSOC, the Policing Authority, and the Garda Inspectorate. It is important to bear in mind also that the Bill seeks to implement the recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. That body engaged extensively with Garda members, consulted Garda associations and unions, and conducted extensive public consultations and so on to inform the...