Sir, – Recent events have pointed up significant weaknesses in the operation of An Garda Síochána and the way in which the Garda accounts for the execution of its duties.
We welcome the announcement by Government that the Oireachtas Committee on Justice will examine ways in which the operation and remit of the Garda Ombudsman Commission can be strengthened.
It is important that this review should be comprehensive. The commission plays an important role in examining complaints of wrongdoing against gardaí and is vital that it is, and is seen to be, independent, effective and authoritative.
But the role of GSOC is limited, quite properly, to examining complaints of wrongdoing. We need to do more than look at the operation of GSOC. We need to have a much broader debate about the accountability of the Garda.
Of course, just such a debate has already occurred in Northern Ireland and there is much that we can learn from their experience. As long ago as 1999, Chris Patten, and his colleagues, argued that accountability of the police force to the community is essential not only because it confers legitimacy on a force in which the public invests a great deal of power, but also in order to ensure effective policing.
Patten recommended the establishment of a policing board with significant powers. The Northern Ireland Policing Board sets priorities and targets for the police; it monitors the performance of the police: it holds senior police officers, including the chief constable to account. Much of its work is carried out in public.
By contrast, the Garda Commissioner is accountable only to the Minister for Justice (acting through the secretary general of the Department of Justice). In practice much of this exercise in accountability takes place in private.
Political control of the police is always a delicate issue in democracies. In many countries it is considered wise, if not essential, that the police should be responsible to some body other than just the Minister or the Department of Justice. This acts as a guard against abuse but it also provides an element of transparency and openness which serves the interest of the police and the public.
It is time for us to debate these issues seriously. The establishment of a Garda authority must form part of that debate. Our current system of Garda oversight isn’t working. The gardaí and the public deserve better. – Yours, etc,
ROBERT DOWDS TD,
ANNE FERRIS TD,
SEAN KENNY TD,
GERALD NASH TD,
DEREK NOLAN TD,
Senator IVANA BACIK,
Senator SUSAN O’KEEFE,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2.