Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Aodhán Ó Ríordáin. The Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 3) Bill 2014 is important legislation, but we must not over-egg the pudding. This is the first step in expanding the remit and powers of GSOC. I am a supporter of An Garda Síochána, as is every citizen. It deserves our support and does very good work within the resources allowed to it by the Government. The force is under considerable pressure at all times and issues around resources have not been addressed in the Minister's reform plans.

The Bill falls far short of the recommendations of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. It seems the initial enthusiasm that the change of justice Minister would change the way we did things with a big sweep-out in the Department has waned. The Bill does not go far enough in securing the independence and impartiality of An Garda Síochána. We must maintain the independence of the police force. It must be independent of the Minister for Justice and Equality and others to ensure it can do its job properly, protect society and guard the peace. Fianna Fáil’s Garda (amendment) Bill proposed to create a stronger ombudsman unfettered by political interference in investigations, while still guarding against the possible undermining of national security, a consideration which may not always be fashionable but of which we must be conscious.

The Bill introduces several welcome changes such as the extension of the time limit for making complaints to GSOC from six to 12 months. GSOC will have more investigative powers under the Bill using surveillance and the same power as An Garda Síochána in certain investigations which it did not have before. The Garda Commissioner will be brought within the oversight of GSOC, but the consent of the Minister and the Government will be required for this to happen. This is a real gap in the legislation. The Bill allows the Minister to request permission to carry out investigations in the public interest, which is welcome. It provides that information requested by GSOC will be provided by the Garda as soon as is practicable/ This is a commonsense provision. The Bill allows GSOC to carry out investigations, on its own initiative, and investigate the operation and administration of An Garda Síochána. All of these provisions are very important and members of An Garda Síochána have nothing to fear from them.

The legislation, however, does not go far enough. While we will support it, we will be trying to improve it. We need to allow the commission to have access to PULSE, police using leading systems effectively, on a statutory basis. GSOC needs to have complete independence from ministerial oversight when investigating the Garda Commissioner. The Minister has made the point that in normal circumstances investigations into the Garda Commissioner are very rare. They should be; if not, we have completely failed. It should not be forgotten, however, that it was the Minister of State’s colleague, the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Deputy Alex White, who accused the Taoiseach of sacking the last Garda Commissioner.

He said that. The idea that the Government will rarely get involved in these matters is not correct. A commission of investigation is examining what went on at that time. The Minister of State’s colleague has made up his mind on it, as many of us have. I certainly agreed with him at the time that it had the appearance of the Taoiseach sacking a Garda Commissioner.

We need GSOC as an independent body to investigate everybody, to be separate from Government and from the Garda. That is what should have happened if the Government had a problem with the Commissioner at that time. We look forward to the publication of the report of the Fennelly commission, as I am sure the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources does too, as soon as possible. We need to know the truth about what went on. The gardaí need to know too because they are the ones who are criticised when many of them are struggling because of wage cuts and resource cuts.

The Bill also fails to put the Garda authority on a statutory footing. That could have been done. I welcome the appointment of Josephine Feehily as the chairperson designate. In fairness to her and to the Revenue Commissioners they have come out of the boom and bust in the economy relatively unscathed. People have respect for the Revenue Commissioners. They are seen to have done a fairly good job. They do their job efficiently. We might not always like them, nobody likes tax collectors but that is the nature of the job. Ms Feehily has done a really good job there and I hope she will bring the same efficiency, determination and commitment to the Garda Síochána authority. I think she will be a really positive force there.

This Bill fails to give responsibility for the recruitment and appointment of senior Garda officers to the Public Appointments Service or indeed to the proposed Garda authority. It does not expand freedom of information beyond existing provisions. We support this Bill but would like to see it go much further. It is a pity that it has not gone much further.

It is only one part of the story. Resources are the bigger issue, what the Garda can do, the closure of Garda stations, the reduction in Garda numbers. Garda numbers are down by 1,600 and while we welcome the new recruits they are few in the overall context. I wish them the best of luck as they start a very important job. A total of 139 Garda stations have been closed in isolated rural areas. Prisons are overcrowded. There is a revolving door in the prisons which we last saw at the end of the last rainbow Government. Thousands of summons, bench warrants, remain outstanding, undermining the criminal justice system. Four inquiries have been established into the administration of the Department of Justice and Equality. One resulted in the resignation of the previous Minister. Change is badly needed and change needs to mean the gardaí are completely separate from politics.

There has been much discussion, public and private, about political policing. I do not believe we have political policing in this country. However, when we consider the antics of the Taoiseach and the Garda Commissioner last year and of the former Garda Commissioner with the former Minister, Deputy Shatter, passing information about a Deputy, one can well understand why people talk about political policing even though I do not believe it exists on the ground. That is what is going on. That is what we need to change. We need to remove the politics, remove the Government from An Garda Síochána, let it do its job independently and have all our support. It needs change but it needs to be independent and it deserves and has the support of the people. We will support the Bill but will continue to put pressure on the Government to make positive changes.