The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, yesterday presented details for the establishment of an inspectorate to audit Garda management systems, which would be answerable directly to the Minister.
At a Garda graduation ceremony in Templemore, Co Tipperary, the Minister said the new inspectorate would be separate from the proposed independent Garda complaints procedure, which would investigate complaints against individual members of the Garda Síochána.
The inspectorate, which will be staffed by civilians, was recommended in the Morris tribunal report. Proposals will be added to the Garda Bill, which is before the Oireachtas. It is due to become law by the end of this year.
The Bill currently provides for a new independent complaints mechanism for the Garda Síochána.
Mr McDowell said that unlike the new complaints body, the inspectorate would look at systemic issues to ensure that events, such as those that were the subject of the Morris tribunal's first report, did not occur again. "It's got nothing to do with taking prosecutions. It's an audit body for professional standards," he said. "It's not there to carry out surprise visits . . . It's designed to create a systemic high standard within An Garda Síochána based on international benchmarking standards."
He said he wanted to remind "the Human Rights Commission that it put forward a document on this issue which it strongly urged me to separate the two and welcomed the concept".
He was basing his comments on a submission from the Human Rights Commission on the Garda Bill, which provides for a new complaints procedure.
The document "endorsed the exact proposal I am making and I am very surprised, therefore, that a member of the commission should go on a solo run," the Minister said. He accused commission member Mr Michael Farrell of "doing a total U-turn and criticising me for doing what his own body urged me to do".
Mr Farrell said his original comments were based on information from an interview the Minister gave earlier this week, in which the impression generated was that a new inspectorate with widespread powers was to be created. He said that he still had concerns about Mr McDowell's proposals for an inspectorate, and called on the Minister to outline them in detail.
Mr Farrell said issues outlined by the Human Rights Commission in December 2002 remained, in that the new complaints body only had the power to investigate individual complaints. Under the current proposals, as published in the Garda Bill, the new body will not have the power "of its own volition to go and investigate patterns of behaviour" or systemic corruption.
The Garda Commissioner, Mr Noel Conroy, said the Garda would "move and change as change requires".
Representatives of rank-and-file Garda members questioned the motivation for the new inspectorate. Mr P.J. Stone of the Garda Representative Association said the organisation was "all for openness and transparency", but wanted to bring "a note of caution" to the proposals.
"I'm not so sure if it's a brilliant idea to have direct ministerial hands on in relation to policing. We know from history that the office of the Minister has been abused in the past."
While stating that he believed the inspectorate could add "another layer" of bureaucracy, he called for the establishment of a forum for policing to have a wider debate on the future of the Garda in Ireland.
He accused Mr McDowell of "using the excuse of the report of the Morris tribunal" to get "a hands-on approach". He asked why the Minister had failed to introduce a policing authority, as had been done in Britain, to oversee the Garda Síochána and any reforms.
A spokesman for the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors said the association wanted more detail on the proposals before making a detailed comment on them. "The Minister was very brief in his comments. We will, however, be looking for an early meeting with the Minister to see what exactly he has in mind. However, from what he said here today, we can't see there's anything to concern us."
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