Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 112: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress made with regard to the establishment of the Garda Ombudsman Commission; the number of staff recruited to date; when he expects that the commission will begin dealing with complaints from the public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36238/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commissioners were appointed by the President on the 10th February 2006, following nomination by the Government and recommendations by both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Commission is in a preparatory stage at present. I understand that the initial work of the Commission has involved study visits to their counterparts in Northern Ireland and the UK and initial meetings with the various stakeholders involved in the Garda complaints system, such as Garda management, the Garda representative bodies and officials of my Department. This process is aimed at enabling the Commission to establish principles regarding its approach to investigating complaints and to work on the development of operational protocols with the Garda Síochána.

The Commission's current programme of work involves:

securing the lease and internal kit out and security of a headquarters in Dublin City centre to include all internal building work, wiring and furnishing;

commissioning and delivery of IT infrastructure, desktop and telephony system, including a call centre for Dublin;

commissioning and delivery of a suite of business applications to support the operation including the implementation of a bespoke case management solution;

recruitment of an initial staff of 81 at all levels across the following areas: Case Officers, Investigators, Legal Staff, Communications, Human Resources, IT and Corporate Services;

training of all of the staff including highly specific training for Investigators and Case Officers;

documentation of the internal business processes around complaints handling/ investigations/ mediation;

creation of a full set of documents to support the core business process of case management/ investigation and the Ombudsman Commission organisation in general;

negotiation of interfaces to external organisations such as An Garda Síochána, the DPP, Forensics, etc and documentation of the resulting procedures;

set up of a Corporate Services/ Management function to include Financial Management and Human Resources Management.

The Commission has advertised all of its senior posts — Director of Investigations, Deputy Director of Investigations, Director of Administration and Head of Legal Affairs — and all of its investigative posts. General staff will be sourced from within the Civil Service. An appointment is currently being made to the posts of Director of Investigations and Head of Legal Affairs. Interviews for the remaining senior posts are scheduled by the Public Appointments Service and are ongoing. The Commission is working towards being in a position to receive complaints as soon as possible in 2007.