Garda Síochána act to provide support for whistleblowers

A phone line is to be established for Garda whistleblowers, a public meeting between Garda management and the Policing Authority has heard.

Garda Commissioner Nóirín Ó' Sullivan has also issued an email, this week, to all 16,000 employees, outlining how they can make protected disclosures, the authority was told.

The Commissioner said a protected disclosure manager had been appointed and a document on protected disclosure has been published, which outlines the mechanisms for Garda employees to make such disclosure.

A survey on public attitudes to gardaí is also to be published later this week, Ms O’Sullivan told the Authority.

The public meeting, at the Kings Inns, Dublin, on Monday, focused on issues raised in the O’Higgins report – in particular, on services to victims, protected disclosures and culture in the force.

Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins investigated allegations advanced by Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe and found serious failures in policing.

In contrast to its tough line following a private meeting with the commissioner late last month, Monday’s public meeting was polite and relatively subdued.

Dr Vicky Conway, of DCU school of law, did highlight that the O’Higgins report had detailed a “litany of failures”.

Echoing the report, she said the trust placed in gardaí had proved not to be justified. She asked how investigations would now be done differently.

Ms O’Sullivan acknowledged victims were failed and said lessons must and will be learned.

Pulse system

She said 28 dedicated victims services offices had been established throughout the country to ensure victims were kept informed of their cases as they progress.

Assistant commissioner Jack Nolan also said an updated Pulse system had been introduced, which now records who the investigator and supervisor were for each case and allows for tracking of notes.

“While I cannot guarantee, and the commissioner cannot guarantee, that something won’t fall through the cracks in the future, the chances have been so significantly reduced, that I would be confident that system is capable of dealing with issues so correctly identified by Judge O’Higgins,” he said.

He also said gardaí were committed to doing as much as possible to reduce the impact of crime on victims and were working to create standardisation and consistency across the country.

Authority member Bob Collins, a former director general of RTÉ, questioned the commissioner on Sgt McCabe’s decision to record a meeting with his supervisors. He asked what it said about the force, when someone felt such apprehension they would think it necessary to secretly record colleagues.

Ms O’Sullivan said she would not comment on the behaviour of any individuals.

“What we want to do is create a trusting environment where people can feel confident to come forward and raise issues,” she said.

Closing the meeting, chairwoman of the authority Josephine Feehily said victims speaking out and culture change in An Garda Síochána was "a work in progress".

“We have an overriding concern that the work done every day by the women and men of An Garda Síochána can be damaged by other issues remaining unresolved, so it is important that we recognise the very important positive work that is done every day by the women and men in your organisation,” she said.