Madam, - I recently listened with great interest to the Minister for Justice's proposals for a Garda Inspectorate to replace the present, hopelessly ineffective (even by their own admission) Garda Complaints Board.
Many of the young homeless people with whom I work make frequent allegations of ill-treatment and assault by Gardai. Neither they, nor I, have any faith that justice will be done under the present system where such allegations are investigated "internally", that is gardai investigating other gardai.
The Garda Inspectorate proposed by the Minister is to have the powers of an Ombudsman, it will have its own investigative officers, it will be able to initiate investigations without having to wait for a formal complaint and Gardai will be obliged to co-operate with their investigations. I felt a glimmer of hope that the present system was about to be reformed.
It was, therefore, with dismay and incredulity that I read the small print in The Irish Times (November 23rd). Only "the most serious allegations" will be dealt with by the Inspectorate itself. Minor disciplinary matters would continue to be dealt with internally within the Garda Síochána, which is reasonable enough. But "more serious allegations" would also continue to be dealt with "internally".
Presumably, allegations of assault by young people in deprived areas would be covered by the term "more serious allegations". In such cases, gardai will continue to investigate gardai, which is the central problem with the present system.
It appears that the young people with whom I work will continue to have no adequate redress when they complain of Garda ill-treatment. - Yours, etc.,
Fr. PETER McVERRY, SJ, Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice Upper Sherrard St., Dublin 1