Results 1-20 of 112 for gsoc segment:8821362

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Brian Stanley: .... With him is Mr. Ciaran Crowe, audit manager at the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. This morning we will engage with officials from the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, to examine financial statements for 2022 for the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. The committee has flagged the timelines for the processing and completion of complaints...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Mr. Justice Rory MacCabe: I thank the Chairman for the invitation to appear before the committee today. Members have already been introduced by the Chair to the other members of GSOC and our support staff who are here today as well. Yesterday, the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 was signed into law by the President. That will replace GSOC with Fiosrú, the Office of...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: Does GSOC have any complaints mechanism to deal with the Policing Authority or is it just An Garda Síochána? Does GSOC not involve itself with the Policing Authority? If a complaint were made, for instance, against a Commissioner or an assistant commissioner, GSOC does not deals with it and, therefore, the maladministration, as some would refer to it, of the Dublin riots would not...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: However, the presence of gardaí or anything to do with the administration of gardaí in a rota for that event has nothing to do with GSOC.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: ...or vexatious complaints, because there certainly are for the Garda member? Whether it is found to be true or otherwise, it is a stressful time for the Garda member. Is there any action taken by GSOC with regard to such complaints?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

...stage where we have done an assessment and we find there is no case to answer. In terms of the individual, clearly, if we were to identify that, beyond just malign, there was an actual lie to GSOC, we have power under the Act to take criminal prosecutions or to conduct a criminal investigation into that. Since we have been formed, we have done that on 12 different occasions. Six of...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: I understand. When we look at what level of complaints GSOC is handling and the staff, what impact is resourcing having on timelines and complaint tally?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: Does GSOC do KPIs?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: As a general comment, does Mr. Whelan find the Garda co-operate with GSOC? If it does not, it would impact the timeline obviously, but is it the case that it does or does not co-operate?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: It is on the lower end of the scale. An incident came to my attention where a complaint was passed from GSOC to be investigated by the local Garda, where the garda who was put forward was not even mentioned in the complaint. To me, that is something that not only would hold up things but it is a complete mix up if a garda is being investigated who has not even been mentioned by the...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: Does it happen that a complainant comes to GSOC and says they do not know the garda’s name?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: I know. It would not have been that. I am just talking about when it comes back into the local arena. It is not really satisfactory that the gardaí are investigating gardaí. I am sure GSOC feels the same about that. That system gives rise to all types of issues such as the one I just mentioned. I want to ask about staffing, the range of employees and their benefits. It...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: That is fine. I could not figure out the lack of a figure when it came to 160 employees. How many GSOC staff are on secondment, if any? Are there seconded staff within GSOC?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Verona Murphy: Does GSOC have any staff on secondment to it?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Alan Dillon: I welcome our guests and thank them for their work in GSOC. I will first focus on GSOC's upcoming transition to the Office of the Police Ombudsman under the new PSCS Bill. Can I get an overview of how the transition will impact day-to-day operations within GSOC and how it is progressing?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

.... Following from that is an implementation group. Internally, we engage in two key workstreams. The first is called the new model and is about having a voted account. We have not had a CEO in GSOC before so we will have a CEO who is the Accounting Officer from 1 July. Much of the work around that is preparing for having a voted account and being able to do that from 1 July. We...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Alan Dillon: There is an increased need for investigators and another key initiative is a wider geographical spread. What is GSOC doing in those areas?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Alan Dillon: There is an increased need for investigators and another key initiative is a wider geographical spread. What is GSOC doing in those areas?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Ms Emily Logan: The number given by our chair was 180 in terms of increased staff requirement. Not all of those are investigators but that is GSOC's core work and we are focused on increasing our investigations.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (8 Feb 2024)

Alan Dillon: In terms of adding geographically to the staff, GSOC has offices in Cork and Longford. Does it intend to open additional offices?