Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan has made a bold and brave start in her new post. The decisions she takes in her first 100 days as commissioner do matter. And, wisely, has used the brief time window to seize the initiative, and to carry out a major management reshuffle. She has done so before resistance to change emerges, and again frustrates efforts to achieve major garda reform. By making so many changes in personnel – assigning almost half of all garda superintendents and chief superintendents to new positions – the commissioner has clearly imposed her authority on the force.
Such a large-scale management reshuffle is without parallel in the 93-year history of the force. But that such radical action was necessary is also a measure of the serious crisis that exists within An Garda Síochána. The past year has seen a minister for justice and a garda commissioner resign – in controversial circumstances that have yet to be explained to the public.
The morale of the force is low, and its performance too often has been marked by scandal – exemplified by how it handled the abuse of the penalty points system for motoring offences, and how it treated the garda whistleblowers who highlighted the matter. The net result has been a decline in public confidence in the integrity and effectiveness of the force that has to be addressed, and quickly reversed.
The management changes involve new appointments to existing units, ranging from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation to the Garda National Drug Unit and Organised Crime Unit, with many geographic divisions also under new management. The commissioner has said her initiative is part of a transformation programme that should help ensure the force provides the “best possible service to the public”.
This is a first rather than a final step on the path to reform of the police service, and the new commissioner is offering strong leadership in achieving that goal. But more needs to be done in establishing a new model of policing if the public's full confidence in An Garda Síochána is to be restored. The Government has proposed a number of measures to accelerate the pace of reform in this area. The Oireachtas is completing discussion of legislation that will enhance the investigative powers of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), by allowing it to carry out investigations on its own initiative, and to examine the operation and administration of An Garda Síochána.
The measure also brings the garda commissioner within the oversight of GSOC, but subject to consent of the Government. Reforms such as these and proposals for an independent policing authority, when allied to commissioner O’Sullivan’s commitment to change, indicate an overdue relaxation of the political grip on policing.