Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House and I also welcome this Bill. As the Minister of State has said, it is part of a comprehensive programme of justice reform which will, among other things, substantially strengthen Garda accountability and I very much welcome it in that context. In his speech the Minister of State set out quite a range of different aspects of the reform programme which are under way. I particularly welcome the decision to establish the new policing authority which was a plank of Labour Party policy for many years and which I am delighted to see is finally taking shape. I am conscious of the fact that the Minister has published the scheme of a Bill which has been considered by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. I also welcome the appointment of Ms Josephine Feehily as the chairperson designate of the new authority. That is an important part of the process of ensuring greater accountability structures within An Garda Síochána.

The Minister of State also mentioned a range of reports and reviews which have been undertaken. In particular, it is worth highlighting the really comprehensive Garda Síochána Inspectorate's crime investigation report which contains more than 200 recommendations. Among the issues it examines are the matters dealt with by senior counsel Mr. Sean Guerin in his report to the Government in respect of certain Garda actions. Members of the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality engaged with the Garda Inspectorate in respect of the report as a whole quite recently. We found its recommendations to be really extensive on the aspects of Garda operational practice that they cover. While listening to Senator Quinn I was conscious of the fact that a substantial number of those recommendations are related to crime prevention. The Inspectorate looked at different ways in which the Garda Síochána can improve its crime prevention work, for example, through the text message scheme for local communities that has been operational in some Garda divisions, through enhanced community policing and so forth. The inspectorate report deals with crime prevention but it also deals with very technical aspects of day to day policing, the processing of cases, the handling of investigations and prosecutions and so forth. I strongly recommend that my colleagues read the report.

As I said, one of the issues examined by the Garda Inspectorate was the Guerin report and the findings therein. I read that report with great interest. It raises some very worrying aspects of Garda practice. A particular feature of the report which stood out for me was Mr. Guerin's commentary on the lack of oversight and supervision of junior and probationary gardaí. In many cases they were left with substantial responsibility but without any supervision of their handling of cases, complaints and crime allegations in particular stations. The Garda Inspectorate has identified supervision, oversight and adequate structures for ensuring accountability of senior officers where junior gardaí are put in charge of investigations and has argued that better structures must be put in place. This is an important part of the reform process.

I will now turn to GSOC and the reforms that have been suggested and recommended for that body. Again, the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality looked at this issue and as the Minister of State has said, it produced a report not just on GSOC but also on a review of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, published last October. I am really glad to see that some of the very significant recommendations of that report have been taken on board in this Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No.3) Bill. I note in particular that in section 4, in line with a recommendation of the aforementioned committee, the time has been extended for the making of a complaint to GSOC in respect of Garda practice. The time limit was six months and the committee recommended that it be extended. The Bill now proposes to extend it to 12 months. Of course, GSOC always had the power to extend the time limit if it considered that there were good reasons for doing so. Certainly, that short time limit, in my experience as a practising barrister in the criminal area in the past, had a chilling effect on people in terms of bringing forward complaints. Therefore, I really welcome that extension in section 4, which is quite important in terms of day to day practice in GSOC.

I also greatly welcome the change in section 7 that will enable the Garda Commissioner to come within the remit of GSOC. Again, that was something that was recommended by the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality. I note the procedures in place before such an investigation can be carried out and I acknowledge that the Garda Commissioner has a particularly significant role in terms of security matters as well as policing. I understand that is why the hurdle or safeguard of the consent of the Minister and the Government is required. There is a specific role provided for the Government rather than just the Minister for Justice and Equality. The spirit of that provision is certainly in line with the recommendation of the committee, which was that all members of An Garda Síochána, including the Garda Commissioner, should be made accountable to GSOC.

I also welcome the provisions in sections 10 and 11 dealing with issues which were important to the committee. GSOC, for the first time, will be able to carry out an examination on its own initiative of practices, policies or procedures of An Garda Síochána. This goes way beyond the very restricted remit of GSOC in just looking at complaints and enables the commission to look at, for example, a pattern of complaints relating to a particular practice. Penalty points is just one random example here. These provisions will enable GSOC to extend its powers of investigation greatly. Section 11 also contains a similar extension of powers for the Garda Inspectorate, which is also very welcome.

A number of the other provisions in the Bill are relatively technical in nature but will have an important effect in extending the investigative powers of GSOC. However, there were other recommendations made by the Oireachtas committee in this regard which were not incorporated into the Bill. I know that the Minister of State has said that some recommendations from the committee will feed into other legislation, in particular the independent policing authority Bill but I wonder whether the issue of access to PULSE should have been dealt with in this Bill. The Oireachtas committee recommended that access to the PULSE system by GSOC would be placed on a statutory footing. Members felt that access to PULSE would be of integral importance to the operation of effective oversight of An Garda Síochána. I might raise this issue with the Minister at a future date.

The Oireachtas committee also made a number of recommendations concerning differentiation between various types of complaints. We had heard that a large number of very minor issues were being brought to GSOC which slowed down its processes considerably. One of the key issues we heard about during our hearings was the delay in the processing of complaints by GSOC. We suggested that consideration be given to the establishment of an independent helpline to determine if a complaint to GSOC was warranted or if the issue could be dealt with in a different manner. These are technical matters and perhaps they do not require legislative change; they may simply involve changing the work practices of GSOC.

The one very substantial change that the committee recommended which would require statutory change and which I do not see implemented in this Bill is the changing of the structure of GSOC. We suggested that instead of three people, there would be a single Garda ombudsman. We made that recommendation because we felt it would ensure a greater degree of accountability and further ensure no possibility of dissenting opinions or divergence in the ombudsman's findings. We were quite persuaded by experience elsewhere of the strength of the single ombudsman model, where there is one person acting as ombudsman rather than a commission of three, as we have here. In our hearings, we heard from people like Ms Nuala O'Loan, the first Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland, about her role. I wonder if that is still under consideration or was that recommendation specifically ruled out in the drafting of this Bill? Perhaps we will see it in some future legislation.

Having raised again the issues that were important to the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, I welcome the reforming aspects of this Bill. I particularly welcome the strengthening of the powers of GSOC and the extension of its remit to allow it to examine practices, policies and procedures on its own initiative. That is really important, as are the other provisions I have mentioned.