Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On section 65, I raise similar types of points. The annual service plan is obviously important. It sets out which services the Garda will provide, the volume of services, the objectives to be achieved through those services and performance targets. Similar points were raised by Senator Mark Daly. How would the objectives be established and how will performance be measured effectively? What will be the consequences in terms of measuring those performance targets?

I note with interest the provision in section 65(3)(g) whereby the service plan shall “be consistent with the resources reasonably and prudently expected to be available to An Garda Síochána”. In the context of constraints – at certain times, not always – we may not have the number of gardaí we would always like to have. There will always be an element where unforeseen or unpredictable situations will arise. Even in quiet areas, sometimes there will be a situation where more personnel will be needed than ordinarily would be. As that relates back to the performance targets and how all of this will be assessed, it is important there is flexibility within the service plan to acknowledge that, at times, there will be occurrences that may not be predictable or foreseeable and might add pressure. That should not negatively impact on the performance target with regard to the overall service plan.

That is important to point out because there is a wider debate happening across the Garda that there is much scrutiny on the performance of Garda members' work. Scrutiny, transparency and how we assess the performance of the Garda are important. I think they are quite happy to have those structures in place to an extent. However, the conversation is happening among gardaí that they feel there are many eyes on them at different times, and things such as performance targets and assessing how they perform adds to that narrative to an extent. It would be important if the Minister could outline how the objectives are set out, what happens when performance targets are missed – they could be narrowly missed because of things that might have happened – and whether there will be flexibility within the service plan to take into account situations that might occur that would not ordinarily occur in the normal course of business. In the context of the past number of weeks, we can acknowledge that can happen on rare occasions. There should be flexibility for the Garda to deal with that and for the service plan to be adaptable and flexible in the context of those particular issues.