Vol. 482 No. 6
1 Ms McManus asked the Taoiseach if he has received the report of the Strategic Management Initiative on the Garda, which was commissioned by the previous Government; if so, the date on which the report was received by him; when it is intended to bring it to Government; when it is intended to publish the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18455/97]
The report in question was received by my predecessor on 11 June 1997. It will be submitted to Government shortly and will be published following Government consideration.
Does the Taoiseach not think the general public would find it extraordinary that he sat on this report given that the Government is in its fifth month and came to power on the basis that it would fight crime and make all the difference? Will he explain to the general public why he has been unable to bring it to Cabinet and has been unwilling to publish it? Does he consider there are serious implications in terms of contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Constitution? Is he aware that the report has been widely leaked to the newspapers? As a consequence will he place it in the public arena immediately?
This is an important report. I appreciate the efforts of those who worked to complete it. In view of its scale and complexity I have an obligation to look at it and most of its recommendations require detailed and careful consideration. It is not just a matter of publication, there is a need to do something about the important policy issues raised. There is danger that a number of human rights and other provisions might be breached if they are not properly examined. That is what we are engaged in.
This is one of a number of reports correctly commissioned by the previous Administration on the criminal justice system covering the Garda Síochána, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Attorney General, the Chief State Solicitor, the courts and prison systems. They are interrelated and because of this there is a need to deal with them collectively. A number have been published. I am committed to an overall assessment to deal with them in a co-ordinated and comprehensive way.
Will the Taoiseach agree this is a failure of Government, that he has been sitting on this report and not acted on it? We have reached the point where it has been leaked to the newspapers in recent weeks. The taxpayer has paid for it. Since he has delayed for so long will the Taoiseach agree that it is time to publish it? Everybody accepts the Cabinet will have to discuss and consider aspects of it but we have gone beyond the point where we can treat it as a document that is not in the public arena. The public has been given an abridged version through the newspapers. The Taoiseach bears responsibility for this sorry state of affairs. Will he at least rectify the damage by placing the full report in the public arena so that the public will know what it contains and the implications of it?
The report has not been sat on, and it is not a sorry state of affairs. It is important that the issues raised in it are dealt with. I have referred to a number of them. Since various reports dealing with the Garda, the courts, the prisons, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Chief State Solicitor's office reach the same conclusion, it is important that their implications for our criminal justice system be considered together. The Deputy will be aware that a further criminal justice Bill will be published shortly. There will be many other changes highlighted by the report of the Strategic Management Initiative on the Garda and other areas which will need to be and will be examined. It is not unusual nowadays for some of the data contained in such reports to have been in the public domain.
Does the Taoiseach recall that the then Opposition spokesman on Justice, now Minister for Justice, Deputy John O'Donoghue, called for the immediate publication of this report on 21 May last even before its receipt in the Department of the Taoiseach? Can the Taoiseach explain why the Minister for Justice, who now has an opportunity to influence its publication, has not had it published? Am I correct in understanding from the Taoiseach that he does not intend to publish this report until he has taken decisions on all of its recommendations?
What Deputy O'Donoghue may have said at that time is a matter for him. I am setting out the present position, which is that I will publish this report——
Is that a general health warning?
——as soon as some of our work on it is ready. I am not saying we will await completion of all of the work. It contains a number of sensitive issues, of which the Deputy will be aware, some of which relate to Garda pay, conditions and so on which are being dealt with. I do not intend to place that report in the public domain until some of those issues have been moved along. Other than that specific one, I am glad examination of the other issues has been done fairly comprehensively.
Am I correct in understanding the Taoiseach's Department has been considering the implications of this and some other reports and that he will not be in a position to bring any memorandum to Government until those considerations have been completed. Since his Department has no operational responsibility for anything other than the strategic management initiative in respect of the operations of the Office of the Attorney General, the Chief State Solicitor's office or for the Garda through the Department of Justice, can he indicate what specific action, if any, has been taken in his, or the relevant line Departments? Is there a working document or draft memorandum? Will the document the Taoiseach will bring to Government accompanying this set of reports be a memorandum prepared by him recommending certain proposals or will the Department of Justice bring forward a memorandum proposing the implementation of the results of whatever discussions will have taken place in the meantime?
Since a substantial amount of this report relates to the strategic management initiative — the organisation, recruitment, methods of dealing with members of the Garda Síochána and their promotional aspects — I will deal with many of its objectives and structures. All but one of the detailed recommendations set out in the report are being dealt with by the Minister for Justice. I will bring forward proposals on the strategic management initiative whereas the Minister for Justice has been dealing with its recommendations in respect of criminal justice issues.
Does the Taoiseach agree that his and other parties identified crime as one of the most urgent national priorities in recent times? Furthermore, does he agree that, whenever this report is published, there will have to be a public debate before its recommendations are implemented? If the crime issue is an urgent one, does he not agree that the sensible thing for him to have done would have been to publish the report in full on receipt rather than await an internal Government debate before taking the public into its confidence on the issues that have to be decided? Would that not have been a better way to have dealt with the issue urgently?
Since the Deputy received the report on 11 June last, to follow the logic of his argument, no doubt he would then have published it——
After the election.
He was right not to have done so, since its contents cover many aspects requiring consideration. Taken with the other reports the Deputy commissioned, it comprises a worthwhile study all of which is being considered in conjunction with the preparation of the additional criminal justice Bill and other matters. Many of the recommendations in this report are similar to proposals we are examining for the Bill which will be published shortly. My work on the report in terms of its SMI aspects is almost complete, but Minister O'Donoghue's work is not and will not be for some time. That report and the other reports are at a stage where I will be able to deal with them shortly, possibly in a matter of weeks.
The Taoiseach is being slowed down by the lethargy of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
Is it the case that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, who called for this report to be published last May, has not completed work which is preventing its being published in November? Does the Taoiseach agree that it suggests a gap between the intentions expressed by the Minister before he came into office and his ability to perform after that?
I am glad to say the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform will shortly introduce important criminal justice legislation. He has already made some useful changes to the structures of the system.
They are called U-turns.
He will also deal with the additional recommendations in this report. Deputies can be assured that the value of this report and others will be implemented in legislation by the Minister with sufficient haste.
Does the Taoiseach accept there is public disquiet at the approach taken by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform? He has been responsible for a number of U-turns on what was perceived as fundamental Government policy. He is now sitting on a report which should be in the public arena. Does the Taoiseach accept that even in the Government's deliberations on this report he would be assisted by public comment? Why is he closing off the possibility of the public, which I have no doubt paid well for this report, having its input? Is this a new style of Government — the opposite of openness and accountability, namely closure and secrecy?
If the Deputy read the Deloitte & Touche report, she would not find anything in this report other than SMI issues. As the Deputy might remember when she was a Minister of State, the previous Government asked Deloitte & Touche to prepare an interim report which is the basis for many of the changes recommended in this fine report on the Garda Síochána. However, there are other issues which deserve deliberation.
By the public.
From what I have read of some of the leaks, I am not sure the Deputy will find any surprises when she reads the report.
