The Government is to introduce a code of discipline for gardaí after the Morris tribunal said it was "staggered" by the level of indiscipline and insubordination in the force, writes Stephen Collins, Political Correspondent
In a number of trenchant comments the tribunal has said "proper discipline has been lost from An Garda Síochána". It suggests that a few mischief-makers are abusing their positions within the Garda and using the disciplinary process to damage the force.
The tribunal has expressed concern that recruits are being brought into an undisciplined culture that has the potential to do great damage to them in the longer term.
It has warned that a "terrible and costly" waste of talent will occur if the existing situation continues.
The existing disciplinary code for gardaí is identified as having created a significant problem by being of great assistance to the undisciplined minority. The tribunal has recommended that the Government takes urgent steps to come up with a new simplified code.
In a clear reference to the row over the Garda reserve, the tribunal also warned that organised insubordination on a mass scale would be a disaster.
The tribunal's conclusions are contained in its latest three reports which the chairman, Mr Justice Frederick Morris, delivered to the Government on May 12th.
Responding to the reports, which cannot be published yet for legal reasons, Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said last night that the tribunal had made it clear that the problems uncovered in the Garda were not confined to Donegal but were of a general kind.
"The Government cannot ignore the trenchant views now expressed by the Morris tribunal which suggest that there is substantial evidence that internal discipline has been severely undermined within the organisation as a whole due to a variety of factors and events."
He added that the tribunal had criticised the existing Garda disciplinary procedures, saying that they could be used to frustrate straightforward disciplinary investigations because of legal formalism.
Mr McDowell said he had conferred with the Garda Commissioner, and they had agreed proposals which would be put to Government within weeks. New disciplinary regulations on the lines recommended by the tribunal would be published soon and signed into law before the Dáil summer recess.
Brendan Howlin, Labour's spokesman on justice, said Mr McDowell had resisted the call for the establishment of an independent Garda Authority. "Each successive report from Mr Justice Morris reinforces the case for such an independent Garda Authority."