Perhaps public attention will remain fastened on the evidence of Garda misconduct, presented by RTÉ's Prime Time and otherwise, just long enough to require Michael McDowell and the Government to institute a number of elementary actions that the revelations demand, writes Vincent Browne.
The first of these is to institute an independent inquiry into the more egregious cases that have emerged. The second is to give real muscle to the proposed Garda inspectorate or ombudsman to be established under the new Garda Act. The third is to reconstitute the force under an independent Garda authority.
By far the most serious issue to emerge in the past 20 years concerns the conduct of the Garda in the murder in 1985 by the IRA of John Corcoran, a Cork man. I have written about this case on several occasions in this column, so far without avail. One of the Garda's most valued spies within the IRA was a Sean O'Callaghan of Co Kerry. He had access to high-level information on IRA operations and fed it dutifully to his Garda handler. As a result several senior IRA members were captured, arms dumps exposed, and operations forestalled.
In 1985, O'Callaghan informed his handler that the IRA had arrested another informer within the IRA ( John Corcoran), that they had taken him to a named location in Kerry and were about to murder him. O'Callaghan says he relayed this information to gardaí in the expectation that they would intervene and spare the life of Corcoran. The Garda did not do so and Corcoran was murdered. The clear suspicion is that gardaí deliberately forfeited his life in order to protect the identify of their prime informer, Sean O'Callaghan.
O'Callaghan made this public in newspaper interviews about 15 years ago and repeated his claims in a book he published in the past five years. Following media comment, the Garda conducted a brief interview with O'Callaghan. And that has been that. So the issue to be investigated is what gardaí knew in advance about the murder; why they failed to intervene; and what investigations, if any, have been conducted into the affair since then, along with the adequacy of those investigations.
There are then a whole plethora of cases that need further investigation (this is aside of course from the McBrearty and Frank Shortt cases being investigated by the Morris tribunal and the Carthy case being investigated by the Barr tribunal). These include the Paul Ward case (where the Special Criminal Court said there either was extraordinary incompetence or fabricated evidence), the Paul Murphy case (where there was tampering with interview notes, followed by perjury), the Dean Lyons case (where an innocent man was induced into confessing to a murder), plus, of course the cases raised by Prime Time.
There doesn't need to be another tribunal established to conduct these investigations. A judge empowered to undertake the necessary inquiries would suffice, as in the Barron inquiry into the Dublin- Monaghan bombings. And the Garda Síochána Bill of 2003, which proposes the establishment of a Garda inspectorate, needs to be strengthened in key areas.
The Bill as drafted, as far as the inspectorate is concerned, is almost a carbon copy of the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 1998, which, inter alia, established the position of Police Ombudsman in Northern Ireland. Section 56 (3) of the Northern Ireland act states: "A person employed by the Ombudsman ... for the purpose of conducting ... an investigation ... shall have the powers and privileges of a constable throughout Northern Ireland."
There was no such provision in the Bill originally circulated by Michael McDowell last July. A person employed by the Garda inspectorate would not have the powers of a garda here. This means, for instance, the investigator , under what was originally proposed, would not have powers of arrest, to undertake a search under warrant, or to take documents or other material into his/her possession. However, I understand that Michael McDowell has reconsidered this and it is now likely that the Northern Ireland Act will be followed in this respect as well.
There are other differences as well. For instance the inspectorate will comprise of three persons, rather than one as in Northern Ireland. This might or might not make a difference but if, for instance, one of the three persons appointed were a recently retired senior garda, it would make a hell of a difference and it would also make a difference if (as reported in The Irish Times yesterday), the investigators used by the inspectorate were retired officers.
Information and documents may be withheld, with the approval of the Minister in certain cases. In certain instances at least, the inspectorate would have to give 48 hours notice to gain access to a Garda station.
And finally, changes far more fundamental to the Garda Síochána are required than those contemplated by Mr McDowell. Changes in relation to recruitment, training, and, above all culture. These will not and cannot come about with the force remaining directly under the control of the Department of Justice, which is part of the problem. It must be placed under a new independent Garda authority with a mandate to make radical change.