The powers of a new independent Garda Inspectorate will not be decided until the end of this year, after a period of extensive consultation. Mark Hennessy and Carol Coulter report.
The Inspectorate, which will replace the existing Garda Complaints Board, is the central element in a major Garda reform package announced by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr McDowell, yesterday. The Minister has tried to match increased accountability with greater financial freedom for the Garda Commissioner.
The final text of the legislation will be put before the Oireachtas "in the forthcoming session", he confirmed. "This is of huge importance. It is not something that should be rushed because this legislation is really cornerstone stuff in terms of our democratic institutions," Mr McDowell added.
The Inspectorate, which will be headed by a Supreme or High Court judge, will be able to launch its own investigations if someone dies in Garda custody, or during a Garda operation, or if it receives a direct complaint from the public, but not otherwise. It will be "demonstrably independent" of the Garda, though it may include a former senior Garda officer, the Minister announced yesterday.
The new body will have similar powers to those enjoyed by Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Ms Nuala O'Loan, but he acknowledged it would have both a smaller staff and budget. The 20 Garda Complaints Board staff will transfer to the new body when it is set up, as will officials in the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
The full scope of the Inspectorate's investigative powers are still under consideration, as the matter was "complex and sensitive", Mr McDowell said.
He said he had chosen to delay publication of the final Bill until he was sure "the correct balance" between the effectiveness of the Inspectorate and the Garda had been struck.
However, it will have the power to investigate public complaints, or to carry out examinations of Garda "policies and practices" if asked to do so by the Minister.
Each local authority will have a local policing committee, involving public representatives and gardaí, while the Commissioner will be responsible to the Dáil for his budget for the first time. The Minister is establishing a legal basis to allow for the creation of a Garda Reserve Force, though he appears to have no immediate plans to actually set one up.
The Inspectorate has been under discussion since the last Government. In November 2000, the then Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, said he had no objection to an independent complaints body.
Labour Party TD, Mr Joe Costello, welcomed some proposed reforms but warned that the Inspectorate failed to deliver "the radical measures" required to reverse declining public confidence in the Garda.
The Minister's proposals were "well-intentioned but barely credible" since they failed to disguise his failure on election promises to deliver 2,000 extra gardaí onto the street, Fine Gael's justice spokesperson, Mr John Deasy, said.