Results 1-20 of 115 for gsoc segment:8228857

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Brian Stanley: ...House. The Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr. Seamus McCarthy, is a permanent witness to the committee. This morning we will engage with officials from the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, to examine its 2020 financial statements. The meeting will be suspended for an hour at 12.30 p.m. When we resume at 1.30 p.m., we will engage with the Policing Authority to...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Mr. Seamus McCarthy: GSOC was established under the Garda Síochána Act 2005. As members are aware, the main functions of the commission are to investigate complaints concerning Garda conduct and incidents where it appears that Garda conduct may have resulted in death or serious harm to a person. The commission can also investigate matters relating to Garda conduct when it is in...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Mr. Justice Rory MacCabe: I thank the Chairman and members of the committee. This is the first occasion that GSOC has had the opportunity to address this committee. I am accompanied by Hugh Hume and Emily Logan, commissioners., and Ms Aileen Healy, GSOC’s director of administration. There are additional members of the staff of GSOC also in attendance as observers. Commissioner...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Mr. Justice Rory MacCabe: The rest are ordinary, recruited civil servants. All the staff of GSOC are civil servants who have been recruited by a public competition through the Public Appointments Service.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Imelda Munster: The number of complaints to GSOC has risen by more than 25% since 2019. What was the number of complaints in the first quarter of 2020? What change would the witnesses estimate that represents year on year?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Imelda Munster: The number of complaints to GSOC has risen by more than 25% since 2019. What was the number of complaints in the first quarter of 2020? What change does that represent year on year?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

...whole process and explain it. When those 1,332 complaints are admitted, we make a number of determinations as to what happens with each complaint. The first thing we do is look for criminality. GSOC retains any allegation of a criminal nature. Such allegations are never passed on to the Garda Síochána to investigate. There were about 557 such allegations last year. We...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Mr. Hugh Hume: There are three levels to that: unsupervised, supervised, and investigated by GSOC for discipline.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

...within 16 to 20 weeks. SIOs are at superintendent level and are required to conduct investigations of matters that have been presented to them and to make determinations. They report back to GSOC on their findings, and the complainant then has an option to have that determination or the investigation reviewed by us. The Garda superintendent will then make a decision as to what sort of...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Imelda Munster: If the complainant is not satisfied with the initial determination, it can go back to GSOC.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Imelda Munster: Does Mr. Hume agree with, understand or even appreciate descriptions in the media of GSOC's investigators' relationship with the Garda? It is deemed they are frustrated with the alleged lack of co-operation from officers. There were references to delays in handing over documents and making witnesses available. Does Mr. Hume accept there is merit to that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Imelda Munster: What is the longest GSOC investigation ongoing?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Imelda Munster: Do a lot of GSOC's investigations take place outside of regular working hours?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Imelda Munster: Are a lot of GSOC's investigations that are handled by the Garda done through overtime?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Ms Emily Logan: I was just going to mention that protocols between the Garda Commissioner and GSOC are provided for in our current legislation. We did not and do not see ourselves as party to that dispute. In answer to the Deputy's question as to whether staff work on call, as a relatively new commissioner I would say the organisation is a very dynamic one. Our investigators do not sit...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Ms Emily Logan: It might be useful to clarify that the role of GSOC is not necessarily to carry out unannounced inspections. Our role is specifically around the response to the public, to the Minister, and to the Garda Commissioner on any referrals or notifications about serious harm or death, and to investigate those complaints and those referrals. We do not, in fact, carry out any...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: ...Logan also. There are many moving parts in some of the scrutiny of this and it can be difficult to understand the pathway that we are following here. I want to ask a little bit more about GSOC’s perspective on the proposed legislation but before I do I want to understand the numbers a little bit more in 2019, 2020, and 2021. We saw a large increase in the number of queries...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

..., DPP, who may or may not decide to prosecute. If that office decides to return the case to us having decided not to prosecute, because it is the Director of Public Prosecutions who prosecutes not GSOC, then we may make a decision to go on to investigate that as a discipline matter. That is part of the convoluted legislation under which we currently operate. That can-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Mr. Hugh Hume: For a disciplinary investigation by an Garda Síochána which is supervised by us, it is 288 days, and for GSOC-led discipline investigations, it is 265 days.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (7 Apr 2022)

Neasa Hourigan: I would hope to glean from these figures when going through them if, for example, referrals to GSOC under section 102 of the Act were considered to have been upheld or actioned? They may been the investigations that were opened in the public interest and if we add in some of those numbers, we are still looking at very low levels of complaints being upheld. If one adds them up, it is less...