Garda has made just one-third of reforms, report says

AN GARDA Síochána has implemented just one-third of the 134 recommendations for its reform made by the Garda Inspectorate since 2006, according to a status report published yesterday.

However, the inspectorate says it is satisfied with the progress made by the force so far, and expects over 80 per cent of its recommendations to be implemented by next October.

"Overall, the inspectorate is very pleased that nearly all of its recommendations to date have been accepted and that substantial progress has been made in giving effect to them," commented the chief inspector, former Boston police commissioner Kathleen O'Toole.

She acknowledged the positive response of Government, the Department of Justice and the Garda to some of the more significant recommendations.

These include an increased emphasis on community policing, setting up regional support units to respond to armed incidents and the appointment of civilian managers to senior posts in the force.

Just one of the recommendations the inspectorate has made in three reports has been rejected. This relates to a proposal that garda superintendents outside Dublin be relieved of their prosecution role in the District Court to allow them more time to concentrate on other responsibilities.

Ms O'Toole said she understood the reluctance of the Garda Commissioner to proceed with this recommendation, which is believed to relate to cost. The inspectorate would keep the matter under review when considering the demands on district officers.

She expressed disappointment at the delays in filling four new senior civilian posts recommended in the inspectorate's first report published 18 months ago. However, three of the posts - head of legal services, director of change management and director of information and communications technology, were advertised recently.

Ms O'Toole said she was hopeful that discussions with the garda representative bodies about a fourth post, that of director of human resources management, would be resolved promptly.

"All four posts are essential to promoting greater effectiveness and efficiency in the Garda and priority must be given to filling all of them as soon as possible."

The appointment of civilian managers was a key recommendation in the inspectorate's first report, published in November 2006. Its second report in March 2007, which addressed the recommendations of the Barr tribunal report in the shooting of John Carty at Abbeylara, made recommendations on the conduct of "barricade incidents".

Since then, all operational gardaí have been issued with protective vests, members of the emergency response unit (ERU) have been trained in the use of less lethal weapons, and non-lethal weapons known as tasers have been issued to ERU members.

However, a national digital radio system is not expected to be operational until 2010 at the earliest, and incapacitant sprays have yet to be provided.

The commissioner has established a focus group to select the most suitable incapacitant spray to issue to specialist units.

Other recommendations in the inspectorate's third report published last September await implementation. Plans to transfer responsibility for transporting remand prisoners to the Prison Service cannot go ahead until the prison service gets extra resources and legislative changes may also be needed.

A Garda code of ethics is expected to be finalised later this year and 28 posts at the laboratory analysis service will be filled.

© 2008 The Irish Times

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times