Social campaigner Father Peter McVerry has criticised proposed reforms of the Garda complaints system as a "missed opportunity" and said they do not go far enough to address current concerns about Garda accountability.
He said that while the proposal for a three-person complaints ombudsman was an improvement on previous reform plans, there were serious questions about whether it would have adequate resources and independence to operate as an effective watchdog on policing in Ireland.
The Bill, currently before the Seanad, provides for an ombudsman's office with its own staff to investigate complaints against gardaí.
However, Father McVerry said the proposals were not definitive and that they would result in "a mish-mash".
"Why we need three highly-paid commission members when the Ombudsman for Northern Ireland has proved on her own to be extremely efficient and independent, and is widely respected, has never been explained," he said.
"Why the commission members cannot be appointed by open competition rather than being Government appointees, has not been explained. The suspicion is left that it is more difficult for a three-person body, appointed by the Government to be as embarrassingly critical of the authorities as the Northern Ireland Ombudsman has sometimes been," he said.
The priest, who works with homeless youths in Dublin, said there were also issues regarding resources. While no figure had been outlined, he said the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, indicated that it would be less than its counterpart in the North.
Writing in the November 2004 issue of Working Notes, the journal of the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice, the priest said proposals within the legislation for community policing boards would amount to "talking shops" and, unlike the North, local gardaí would not really be accountable to them.