The Government has opted for a different model of independently investigating and assessing policing in the State, writes Jim Cusack, Security Editor
Officals in the Department of Justice assessed the structures for police accountability in the North, particularly the role of the ombudsman and police board, along with similar structures in other European and US police forces.
The exercise, which was concluded last year, was prompted by the perceived effect on public confidence in the Garda over issues such as alleged corruption in Donegal.
About a year ago, it was decided that the structure best suited to policing in the Republic was of an independent inspectorate, probably a retired senior judge with an investigative staff.
The inspectorate's remit will be broader than that of the police ombudsman in Northern Ireland. To an extent it combines the roles of the ombudsman and Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC).
The HMIC, which Sir Ronnie Flanagan has joined since his retirement, is the organisation which visits police forces throughout the UK, examines their working practices, gives findings and makes recommendations.
The Garda inspectorate will not only receive and deal with complaints against gardaí, it will be able to visit - unannounced - any Garda station at any time and examine whether it is up to standard.
It will also visit Garda districts and divisions to see whether they are meeting efficiency and productivity targets under the Strategic Management Initiative (SMI) plan for the Garda.
For instance, if the inspectorate notices that there are more public order problems in one district than in another similar district, he or she can ask the officer in charge to explain the reason and to rectify the situation.
The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, has directed that the inspectorate be put in place as quickly as possible. The relevant legislation is nearly completed and suitable offices have already been identified.
If the present Government is returned to power, the inspectorate should be in place by the end of the year.
However, if the Labour Party is part of the next government, it has indicated that it would prefer to see structures like the police board in Northern Ireland and an ombudsman.
The Minister believes that the role of the police board - of overseeing senior appointments and providing finance - will remain within the bailiwick of government.
Addressing the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors' (AGSI) conference in Limerick last week, Mr O'Donoghue outlined his proposals for the inspectorate.
He said an independent inspectorate for the Garda would have "effective oversight on police activities and conduct", and that it would be "actually much more comprehensive than is the ombudsman suggestion".
At present, there is no independent police inspectorate in this jurisdiction; no authority whose task it is to exercise independent day-to-day oversight of operating standards on an ongoing basis.
Mr O'Donoghue's proposal, he said, "is to set up an inspectorate which would combine the role of independent inspection with that of independent complaints adjudication. In other words, the inspector would not only have a role corresponding to that of an ombudsman - such as the Northern Ireland ombudsman - but also a role in supervising day-to-day operational standards and practices."
He continued: "Such a structure would, I believe, considerably enhance the prospects that questionable standards or questionable practices would be picked up and corrected, as a matter of routine, before they became the subject of complaint.
"This system would better serve the interests of the Garda Síochána and customers of the service alike. It would facilitate the development of independently-drawn rules of best practice and thereby reduce the risk that lower standards - which are often at the root of complaints - would be allowed to become part of normal routine or would be tolerated.
"In other words, the major difference between my proposal and the ombudsman idea is that my proposal is designed not simply to adjudicate on complaints but to reduce the risk of their arising in the first place. I want to try to close the door before rather than after the horse has bolted.
"Some have called for the establishment of an ombudsman on Northern Ireland lines and tend to give the impression that this would represent a more far-reaching change than the inspectorate which I have proposed.
"Nothing could, in fact, be further from the truth."
Another function which the inspectorate will have is that it can respond to requests from the Minister for Justice to examine any problematic aspect of policing which has come to his attention.
It is clear that it would not be acceptable for the Minister to personally intervene in such a situation, to actually go to a station and ask senior officers to account for themselves. However, the inspectorate will be able to do just that.
Parallel to the establishment of the inspectorate, the Government has set up a public inquiry under Judge Morris into the allegations of corruption and illegal activity by gardaí in Donegal.
This should be in place within the next two months, and will have wide powers to investigate complaints into the activities of gardaí in Donegal.
The Minister has rejected calls for the widening of the remit of the Morris inquiry to examine issues like the wrongful charging of the late Dean Lyons with the murders of two middle-aged psychiatric patients at Grangegorman in Dublin in March 1997. His family has received no explanation as to why information known only to the real murderer and gardaí came to be included in his alleged confession.
The Garda inspectorate will replace the old Garda Complaints Board, which both gardaí and Government feels has been unable to properly fulfil its function.
The inspectorate, like the ombudsman in Northern Ireland, is likely to meet with opposition from time to time from gardaí. Gardaí who are under investigation or who feel threatened will be entitled to legal representation should there be complaints against them.
As the Garda Complaints Board found itself in conflict with the Garda representative associations - who actually once called for its disbandment - so the inspectorate and the representative associations might also be expected to come into conflict with each other.