Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom fáilte a chur roimh an mBille seo agus muid ar bhealach fanacht píosa fada leis an mBille céanna. I am pleased to welcome this Bill today. It is fair to say that we have been waiting for it for quite a while. It has been a very disturbing period in terms of the administration and application of justice in this State. Public confidence has been fundamentally undermined by the incompetence and sometimes arrogance shown by this Government in overseeing all the episodes that have emerged in recent months and years.

Sinn Féin has called time and again for an independent policing authority. Such an authority was not included in the programme for Government because it was not considered important enough. Unfortunately, it has not been included here either. However, I am assured that it will be established by another Bill in the coming weeks.

I, and my party, will continue to push for this as we believe it is integral to the reform of policing in this State.

When the Garda Síochána Bill was enacted in 2005, my party colleagues in the House said it did not go far enough and that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission did not have the powers to carry out its responsibility. I am happy, therefore, that the Bill before us today will rectify that via section 7.

For the first time the Garda Commissioner will be brought within the scope of GSOC investigations which is a great improvement. In recent times we witnessed the limitations of the powers of GSOC when it could not access the PULSE system directly. Unfortunately, this too is not addressed here.

Access to PULSE was one of the recommendations of the justice committee, as has been mentioned. In its submission to the Department on the reform of policing, the committee called for a statutory provision to allow GSOC access the PULSE system to better equip GSOC staff in their investigations. The adherence to agreed protocols between Garda and GSOC should be made compulsory in legislation. We should legislate to grant direct access to PULSE for GSOC. I shall seek to submit amendments on this matter as the Bill passes through the House, as I feel it is crucial to the work of GSOC.

I also want to make reference to further comments made by Conor Brady more recently when he spoke about information being withheld from GSOC on the basis of State security. We need to ensure that this is supervised to ensure this aspect is not used as a mechanism to hamper GSOC investigations. I shall seek to amend the legislation to deal with this important issue.

I shall speak briefly on the Garda Inspectorate. Another of the Oireachtas joint committee's recommendations was the formation of a criminal justice inspectorate to include the powers of the Garda Inspectorate but wider in scope to encompass a number of bodies. Sinn Féin advocates the broadening the role of the inspectorate to that of a criminal justice inspectorate. Such an inspectorate would be primarily responsible for the effectiveness and efficiency of the workings of organisations within the criminal justice sector. They must also have responsibility for laying their reports before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The bodies we want to come under the remit of the proposed criminal justice inspectorate include An Garda Síochána, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Probation Service, the Courts Service and the Irish Youth Justice Service. This legislation changes the definition of the ombudsman in that it can now consist of three people with which I disagree. I firmly believe there should only be one ombudsman and I note Senator Bacik's comments, in this regard.

The joint committee also recommended changing the structure of GSOC from three commissioners to one ombudsman. It cited that a single ombudsman would ensure a greater degree of accountability and ensure there is no possibility of dissenting opinions or a divergence in the ombudsman's findings. I will seek to submit an amendment regarding section 65(1) of the 2005 Act to change the structure of the commission so that instead of three people there is a single Garda ombudsman.

I accept that the former RUC is not, in crucial aspects, comparable with An Garda Síochána. None the less important lessons can be gained from the changes to policing in the North as a result of the Patten report and the Good Friday Agreement. In terms of this issue, we have circulated our document to all Oireachtas Members. I invite those who have not had an opportunity to look through it to do so. It is our considered contribution but it is not definitive.

Sinn Féin believes in a new beginning for policing in the South. We want an open and transparent policing service, not a force, which is representative of all people residing in this State. We need to see freedom from partisan political control or influence, operational independence and community policing in order to maximise confidence in the police. I support the Bill but will seek to bring forward the recommendations and amendments that I have outlined. Go raibh míle maith agat.