Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister to the House. A total of 23 people were shot dead this year in this country. More than 60 violent murders occurred. Gun crime reached epidemic proportions. Drugs are more freely available than ever before. This is the legacy of the Government. I think of the personal attacks and abuse the former Minister with responsibility for justice, Nora Owen, received. I shudder to think what it would be like if she presided over the lawless situation we now have. The challenges for the Garda Síochána are great. Ireland has benefited greatly from the Garda Síochána, a body of dedicated men and women with a proud tradition of service since the foundation of the State. We are blessed in having an unarmed police force, something about which we should be proud. We owe the founders of the State a debt of gratitude as a result of this. Through the early years of the Free State and, more recently, during the Troubles, the Garda has acted to secure our State and protect our citizens.

However, in recent years, we have suffered and the Garda has certainly suffered from the deplorable actions of a number of individuals which have been widely publicised in the media. The revelations made by the Morris tribunal and the Nally report have severely damaged the Garda Síochána and deeply affected public confidence in the organisation. There now exists an alarming situation whereby some members of the public second-guess the motivation of decisions of gardaí, doubt the bona fides of individual members and question the honesty of the force as a whole.

There is no question that revelations of Garda behaviour in Donegal were shocking in the extreme. Many of us could not even believe that there were gardaí who had the audacity to undermine the rule of law so subversively and deliberately to deprive innocent citizens of their rights to liberty, due process and the presumption of innocence, to name but a few. However, others were not surprised in the least because they had seen at first hand the actions of some individuals within the Garda which were, in no uncertain terms, corrupt, unscrupulous and ruthless. Even worse was the evidence of indiscipline and, in some instances, cover-ups and the indications of the development of a culture far removed from the essential core mission of the Garda, which is to serve the State and its citizens.

What happened in Donegal left much to be desired and needs to be tackled. It is incumbent on us all to confront this decline in confidence, address the root causes of it and implement changes and reforms that will truly turn around the Garda, not just in terms of public perception but in terms of the proper organisation of the force. The Garda must be seen as a proper organisation to implement policies that will generate confidence in the public.

The Garda must be equipped to deal with 21st century problems. I welcome the fact that the Minister stated here today that he has informed the Garda Commissioner that any resources he requires will be furnished to him to tackle gang crime. I always suggest that it is better late than never, certainly where gang crime, which is despicable at the moment, is concerned. People in communities fear for their lives because of the lawlessness on our streets.

Fine Gael wants the Garda to be the best police force in the world. We do not want it just to be good or adequate. We want an excellent force which is widely referred to as such throughout the globe. We would expect optimum results in the prevention and detection of crime from such a force. What would we do differently if we were in Government? Fine Gael believes we need to implement measures and change at two different levels. The first is at an organisational level which involves bringing institutional change to an outdated structure and bringing it into line with best international practice, thereby returning accountability and transparency to a force desperately in need of them. The second is at community level where there is a need for communities to be policed by real, dedicated Garda officers whose only concern is the welfare and safety of the community, which is paramount if we are to restore public confidence in our police force.

The Garda Síochána Act 2005, which we supported, goes some way towards this, but much more needs to be done. I am glad the Minister has acknowledged that. In respect of institutional changes we believe are necessary, the time is right to establish an independent Garda authority, incorporating the existing Garda inspectorate, whose function would be to drive the agenda for reform and ensure the measures are implemented rather than put on the long finger, which the Minister acknowledged has happened. The authority would have a clear remit and would inject professionalism and modernism into a force that has served the country well but which now needs to be updated. I think we are all of the same opinion in this regard. The idea is that there should be an overarching body taking responsibility for implementing best practice.

The Garda can borrow extensively from the corporate and private sector in this regard. All major companies in Ireland manage their development through systems such as this. They ensure they monitor the trends amongst their competitors, modernise and even keep ahead of the pace. These ideas should govern the thinking in Garda management in particular.

The Garda Commissioner needs to be looking constantly at policing organisations, comparing, contrasting, taking the good and benefiting from expertise in similar jurisdictions throughout the world. This is why I believe an authority would comprise civilians with extensive experience of change management and strategy in both public and private sector positions.

The independent Garda authority would drive an agenda for root and branch reform in a number of areas. It would radically revise Garda rostering which wastes huge levels of Garda resources every year. The new authority would demand international best practice in areas of management, including taking responsibility for recommending senior Garda appointments to the Government and opening Garda recruitment to external candidates.

I recognise that civilianisation has begun, but we have been saying for the past ten years that this should happen. I am glad the expertise of civilians is now being brought into the force. When he became Mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani gave a commitment to deal with law and order issues in that city. One of the measures he introduced was COMSTAT, a system for comparing and contrasting performance in precincts in the city. This system or a variation of it could be very useful in addressing the discrepancies in Garda regional successes.

Fine Gael has always highlighted the huge differences in detection rates throughout the country. There should be little or no difference between Garda regions or divisions. A person robbed in Tramore should expect the thief to be caught as much as a person in Tralee or Tallaght. The authority would also review the use of the annual budget, report to the Minister on progress in given policy areas, ensure inter-agency co-operation, maintain close ties with the Northern Ireland Policing Board, review the retirement age for senior gardaí and make recommendations to the Government on the numerical strength of the force while remaining accountable to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and keeping him or her informed of all its meetings and decisions.

One of the most important changes a new Garda authority would make would be in respect of the organisational structure of the Garda. According to a recent report by the Garda inspectorate, the management of the Garda is too top-heavy, with a large number of senior personnel responsible for top-level implementation of policy and change management. The structure must be changed, streamlined and devolved in order that regional commissioners will have power to take action in their areas and be responsible for the taking of such action. I accept that the latter is not dissimilar to what the Minister stated earlier.

The Garda Commissioner must take a step back from the day-to-day running of the force so that he or she can concentrate on major issues such as the implementation of reform. The commissioner's operational responsibilities should be devolved to a deputy commissioner and his or her administrative responsibilities should be also devolved to another deputy commissioner. I support the approach that provides for the appointment of a deputy commissioner for administration. All departments that will fall under the remit of such an individual — including human resource management, ICT, finance and health and safety — should be, as far as possible, staffed by civilians, particularly if the relevant expertise is not available within the force. There also should be a single, civilianised position of director of communications. The responsibility of the latter would be to act as a spokesperson for the force and to ensure the communication of Garda messages to the press and members of the force is dealt with in a professional manner.

The suggestions I have made would ensure the comprehensive civilianisation of the force. A shocking number of fully trained gardaí are carrying out jobs that could and should be done by people with no policing expertise. A parallel civilianised stream of personnel must be put in place to provide cover in the areas to which I refer. It is an inexcusable waste of time for gardaí to be sitting in barracks, stamping passports and driving licence application forms and answering telephones. These jobs should be done by anyone with appropriate administrative skills.

The Government has been in power for almost a decade and the issue of Garda numbers has been to the fore for most of that period. Why has civilianisation not yet been implemented to any great extent. Real civilianisation has a twofold benefit and would allow An Garda Síochána to have the best of both worlds. There is a substantial store of knowledge and experience in the private sector that could be put to good use in running the Garda Síochána. If the force fails to embrace civilianisation, a wealth of intelligence will be lost to the State. Civilianisation would allow the Garda to introduce certain expertise, particularly in the area of administration, in respect of which gardaí might not have the requisite skills, in order that best international practice can be implemented.

There is a need to introduce changes in community policing and some of these are dealt with in the relevant legislation. We must do more, however, to put additional gardaí on the beat and to give communities back to the people, rather allowing them, as is the case at present, to be terrorised by criminals.

I wanted to comment on Garda training and discipline but I cannot do so within the time constraints. I will say, however, that before we have a truly accountable and disciplined police force, a significant cultural change will have to take place among individual gardaí. Officers must convince people that the force, as a whole, has their interests at heart at all times and that it is accountable and transparent in its operations. People should feel safe on the streets and in their homes.

I look forward to the contributions of other Members to the debate. The Garda has served the State well since its foundation. I accept that there have been difficulties and that problems remain. However, I am confident the Garda Síochána can rise to the many challenges ahead.

The Minister approached the Garda Commissioner and informed him that he can have any resources he requires to combat gangland crime. It is not before time that this was done.