There is growing concern about the potential cost of the tribunal of inquiry into the treatment of Garda whistleblowers as it emerged that five recent commissions of investigation have cost the exchequer €15.026 million to date.
Sinn Féin justice spokesman Jonathan O’Brien said while he believed this tribunal had the best chance of addressing the issues of how An Garda Síochána dealt with whistleblowers, “it will not be able to address reforms”.
He warned the only way to avoid repeated commissions of investigations and tribunals of inquiry examining policing was to give enforcement powers to the Garda Inspectorate, the Policing Authority and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSoc).
Mr O’Brien said “the Minister for Justice is the only one who has the power to change the legislation” to give those bodies the authority to reform An Garda Síochána and “to separate policing from politics”.
Sinn Féin and other opposition parties and TDs have appealed in the Dáil for the Government to bring forward emergency legislation on legal costs which would allow the tribunal judge to tell witnesses the costs they would be allowed and prevent numerous senior and junior counsel representing a single individual.
Mr O'Brien was speaking following the release of information to him by Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald about the cost of commissions of investigation.
Cost the exchequer €15.026m
The investigation into the Dublin Catholic Archdiocese and its handling of clerical child sex abuse cost €8.789 million, according to Department of Justice figures.
The State spent €2.3 million on the commission which investigated the killing of Gary Douche by another inmate in Mountjoy prison.
Three commissions of investigation into incidents involving gardaí cost the State almost €4 million.
The O’Higgins inquiry investigating allegations of Garda malpractice in the Cavan/Monaghan division of An Garda Síochána has costs of €1.784 million to date. The commission looked at nine criminal investigations conducted by gardaí in the division. Judicial review proceedings have been taken in relation to third party legal costs for witnesses at commission hearings.
Costs of €1 million were incurred for the commission of investigation into the case of Dean Lyons, accused in the wrong of the murders of two women in Grangegorman, Dublin in 1997.
Costs for the commission into the fatal shooting in Ashford, Co Wicklow by gardaí of Ronan MacLochlainn shot during an attempted armed robbery of a cash-in-transit van are €1.153 million. A High Court case has been taken seeking to overturn the commission’s finding that he was lawfully killed.
The Minister said final costs awaited the outcome of court proceedings.
Mr O’Brien said he had asked the parliamentary question about costs because “there’s been an enormous amount of commissions of investigation, of scoping exercises looking at mismanagement of An Garda Síochána”.
The Cork North-Central TD said the Garda Inspectorate had made more than 750 recommendations about changes in Garda operations and management “but they’re sitting on a shelf and only a handful have ever been implemented”.
No Power
He said the Garda Inspectorate had powers of inspection but did not have the power to implement those recommendations.
The Policing Authority oversees whether the recommendations are implemented but it too has no powers to ensure changes are implemented, he added.
“They don’t have powers to implement any of their recommendations.”
It was the same with the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSoc), he said. “They investigate complaints against gardaí but if documents and files they request are refused there is very little comeback.”
If the practices, procedures and processes recommended by the Garda Inspectorate and Policing Authority were put in place “we would not be where we are now”.
Mr O’Brien pointed to the report of the Oireachtas Justice committee last October, which reviewed the 2005 Garda Síochána Act. He said that at hearings before the committee Gsoc said that parts of the legislation were actually hindering the commission in its work.
“If you leave it to An Garda Síochána to reform themselves it’s not going to happen. There has to be an independent body to do it.”
The Sinn Féin spokesman said that since the foundation of the State the culture has been to have An Garda Síochána and politics close.
He said the Minister for Justice was the only one who had the power to change the legislation to give the Garda Inspectorate, the Policing Authority and Gsoc the powers to separate policing from politics.
In the Dáil during a debate on the terms of reference for the tribunal, Sinn Féin finance spokesman Pearse Doherty appealed for the Government to bring forward core parts of the 2005 Tribunals of Inquiry Bill which has passed second and committee stages.
He said the elements of the legislation dealing with reducing tribunal costs should be passed before the Charleton inquiry starts.
He said “it would allow the sole member of the tribunal of inquiry to tell each witness the amount for which they would be covered for legal costs. No longer would we have witnesses coming in with five barristers and two junior counsels looking to recoup their costs from the State.
Mr Doherty added: “No longer would public relations consultants be allowed to be hired by witnesses and have their costs paid by the State.”
Fianna Fail justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan said they should proceed to enact the legislation. He said that the Oireachtas created tribunals of inquiry and “we have a responsibility to try to ensure that they are efficient and not as costly as they have been in the past”.
