The leadership of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (Gsoc) is set to undergo changes with the appointment of two new commissioners. However, the Garda oversight agency will still be led by Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring for at least one more year.
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has confirmed former ombudsman for children, Emily Logan, and outgoing Garda Síochána Inspectorate member and former PSNI officer, Hugh Hume, are set to be appointed to the three-member commission at the top of Gsoc.
Ms Logan and Mr Hume have emerged successful in the recruitment competition to fill two of the three vacancies that arise as the terms of outgoing commissioners Kieran FitzGerald and Patrick Sullivan come to an end.
Ms McEntee said the nominations of Ms Logan and Mr Hume will now be brought before the Oireachtas for approval and once that was granted they would be appointed by President Higgins.
Ms Justice Ring will remain as chairperson, and senior member of the three person commission at the top of Gsoc, until December, 2021, as her term was extended for five years in 2016.
Gsoc investigates complaints made by members of the public about Garda members. It also investigates any incident in which death or serious injury results from police activities. The commission can also open investigations into matters of public interest it believe warrant investigation.
Gsoc and one of the other Garda oversight agencies, the Policing Authority, are to be merged into one oversight agency – the policing and community safety authority – under changes recommended in a 2018 report by the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland.
It was tasked, under chairwoman and former US police chief Kathleen O’Toole, to review the force in the context of many recent scandals and to plan a path to a better system of policing and oversight.
