Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)

The policy underlying this provision is that all decisions relating to procedures following investigation by the ombudsman commission into complaints made against members of the Garda Síochána which appear to involve offences will be a matter for the Director of Public Prosecutions. Section 60(2)(d) requires the commission "in appropriate cases, to report the results of its investigations under Part 4 to the Garda Commissioner or to the Director of Public Prosecutions and, if it reports to the Director, to send him or her a copy of each investigation file". A short-circuit therefore exists in that one can send the file to the DPP.

Section 93 deals with the procedure to be followed after completion of the investigation by the ombudsman commission into a complaint which appears to involve an offence. Subsection (3) requires the DPP to inform the ombudsman commission about a decision by him "whether or not to institute a prosecution in relation to the conduct that is the subject of a report received from the Commission...". Therefore, there is feedback to the commission from the DPP. Should the DPP decide to institute a proceeding he or she is further required to keep the ombudsman commission informed of the progress of the prosecution and whether it results in conviction or acquittal of the member.

It is clear that in the context of a criminal proceeding the role of the ombudsman commission is purely investigatory in nature. I am not prepared to deviate from this. Indeed, it would be wrong for the commission to have a prosecution role in addition to its investigatory role in establishing facts. We are taking away from investigating gardaí the general right to prosecute independently of the DPP. It would be strange to make gardaí second-class citizens in that they alone would be subject to criminal charges without independent intervention and supervision of the DPP. Representative associations would be unhappy if the DPP's independent, supervisory role was suspended in the case of the Garda Síochána.

There is a provision in the Bill with regard to the extension of time periods. In summary offences, complaints must be made within a certain period of time. The period for making a complaint is extended in section 76 and the period for prosecution is extended in section 96. Currently a significant problem exists in that statutory periods for prosecution of summary offences are frequently eaten up by the Garda Síochána's complaints commission investigation. There is little if any time for a prosecution to be brought on a summary basis. The Bill proposes to extend the time period for invoking the summary jurisdiction of the courts. In the case of indictable offences, there are no statutory time limits.