Decisions on commission to audit Garda unlikely this week

The Cabinet will discuss a commission to examine the Garda when it meets on Tuesday but is unlikely to reach conclusions about the proposals to investigate and reform the force this week.

The Government has been urged to set up a "Patten-style" commission into the Garda similar to the one conducted by the former British minister Chris Patten into the RUC, which led to its disbandment and replacement by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

However, it is understood that Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald wishes to see consultation with opposition parties before the Government decides exactly what sort of process it wishes to put in place.

It is likely that other concerned groups, including the Garda Inspectorate, the Policing Authority and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission will also be consulted. One senior source also said the Garda unions may also be asked for their views.

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At this stage no decisions have been made about whether any commission should be set up on a statutory basis, and what powers it should have to carry out its work.

Nuala O'Loan described the 14,000 prosecutions brought by gardaí which will now have to be set aside as 'a scandal of enormous proportions'

The Labour Party on Sunday published draft terms of reference for an independent commission which it said would provide for a "Patten-style" review.

Root and branch

Labour leader Brendan Howlin said: "We have been hearing for some weeks that some form of root-and-branch external review of An Garda Síochána will be commissioned. And yet, despite much public discussion, we have not seen any indication that such a mechanism will be established quickly."

Mr Howlin said the Garda should proceed with the implementation of “the many recommendations of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate. These recommendations would transform organisational structure, governance and culture, workforce modernisation and use of technology in An Garda Síochána,” he said.

The former police ombudsman in Northern Ireland, Nuala O'Loan, said yesterday the recent Garda scandals required a "fully empowered independent inquiry with the powers to look at all kinds of documentation".

Ms O’Loan described the 14,000 prosecutions brought by gardaí which will now have to be set aside as “a scandal of enormous proportions”.

Ms O’Loan indicated the exercise need not take long. “Patten took 15 months to do a much much bigger job,” she said.

She also asked why none of these cases had been brought back before the courts, though the gardaí had known about them since last year.

The Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O'Callaghan echoed Ms O'Loan's concerns on the lack of progress of overturning the wrongful convictions.

Wrongly convicted

“It is now 8½ months since the State became aware of the fact that a large number of people have been wrongly convicted under the fixed-charge system yet, to date, nothing has been done by the gardaí, the Government or the DPP to rectify those convictions that have damaged the standing of our criminal justice system,” Mr O’Callaghan said.

The fact is that the Garda Commissioner does not enjoy the confidence of the Dáil

Meanwhile, Sinn Féin reiterated its call for the Garda Commission, Nóirín O’Sullivan, to resign.

“The fact is that the Garda Commissioner does not enjoy the confidence of the Dáil and more importantly she does not enjoy public confidence and she has to go,” the party’s deputy leader, Mary Lou McDonald, said on Sunday.

“This issue is bigger than any political party. It is about the fundamental administration of justice. Rather than sitting on the sidelines, we need to see action to ensure the commissioner is relieved of her duties,” she said. “The commissioner has to go; the Government needs to act to restore public confidence in An Garda Síochána.”