The Government at its meeting of 1 December last decided to nominate Mr. Simon O'Brien, Ms Carmel Foley and Mr. Kieran Fitzgerald for appointment by the President as members of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and to nominate Mr. O'Brien as chairperson of the commission. Under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, appointments to the Garda Ombudsman Commission must also be recommended by both Houses of the Oireachtas through resolutions. These resolutions are scheduled to be taken on Friday in both Houses, which is why the proposed appointments are to be considered first by this joint committee.
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission provides a system for receiving complaints and dealing with allegations of Garda misconduct in a manner that is efficient, effective and fair to all concerned, and that also promotes public confidence in the process for resolving those complaints. The ombudsman commission is empowered to independently investigate complaints against Garda members. It may also initiate investigations in the public interest even where no complaints have been made. It has been provided with the necessary powers to discharge these functions, including policing powers of arrest and detention.
The first commissioners were appointed in 2005 and had to oversee the development of a new organisation with a new mandate. The initial tasks of the commission were to develop relevant procedures and protocols, as well as to provide relevant training for its staff so the organisation could properly carry out its functions when it opened its doors to receive complaints in May 2007. In the period since mid-2007 to the end of September 2011, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission received just over 10,900 complaints of which 6,000, or 55%, were admitted for investigation. Of these admissible complaints, 51% related to allegations of a disciplinary nature, while 35% concerned allegations of a criminal nature. A small number of complaints were resolved informally.
A total of 2,555 complaints have been referred by the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána for investigation in accordance with section 94 of the 2005 Act. Such references relate to relatively minor matters and they may be supervised by the commission, although handled by the Garda authorities. This approach recognises the role of the Garda Commissioner as the disciplinary authority for the force. Additionally, it frees up the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to focus on the more complex complaints.
The ombudsman commission has referred a total of 111 files to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, with a recommendation that a prosecution be considered, and a further 89 files have been referred to the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána with a recommendation that they be processed under the internal Garda disciplinary procedures. In addition, six investigations were undertaken under section 102(4) of the 2005 Act. This enables the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to investigate a matter in the public interest even where it has not received a complaint. A further investigation under section 106 was initiated by a previous Minister, the late Brian Lenihan, relating to the system of fixed penalty charges. The objective of section 106 investigations is to reduce the incidence of complaints to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission on particular areas by clarifying the relevant policy involved.
An important performance indicator is the level of public awareness of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. A public attitude survey carried out by the commission in 2010 shows high levels of awareness of its powers. More than 60% of participants believed the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to be independent and fair to all parties.
All of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission's work is underpinned by its values of independence, impartiality and fairness. The organisation is provided with an annual budget of approximately €9 million and has a current staffing complement of 87, not including the three commissioners and two senior Garda staff who are on secondment to the organisation. These are some of the key points regarding the operation of the commission and I will shortly lay a detailed report before both Houses on the first five years of its work.
I offer my personal thanks and the thanks of the Government to the two outgoing members of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, Mr. Dermot Gallagher and Mr. Conor Brady. Mr. Brady has served a full six year term, while Mr. Gallagher joined the commission as chairperson in 2009 following the untimely death of Mr. Kevin Haugh, the first chairperson and former judge of the High Court. Both Mr. Brady and Mr. Gallagher have made a major contribution towards the successful establishment and development of the commission in its crucial early years. Their work, along with that of the third member, Ms Carmel Foley, has laid the foundation for the success of the commission and they deserve our sincere thanks and appreciation.
The nominees whose names are before the joint committee today for approval arose from a public call for expressions of interest for appointment to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. Advertisements were placed on my Department's website and the website of the Public Appointments Service. This is the first time appointments to the commission have been dealt with in this way. A total of 40 expressions of interest were received and I thank all those involved for their interest and the care they took in their responses. I assure everyone concerned that I have given very careful consideration to all of the applications.
Arising from this, the Government is nominating Mr. Simon O'Brien to be chairman of the commission. Mr. O'Brien is currently deputy chief inspector of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate and was previously territorial policing commander in the UK Metropolitan Police, commanding policing across 11 boroughs in north east London with a staff of more than 9,000 reporting to him. He therefore has not only extensive experience of policing at a senior level, but an excellent knowledge of the Garda Síochána and the policing environment in which it operates.
The Government is also proposing the re-appointment of Ms Carmel Foley as a member of the commission. Ms Foley has played a very important role in the establishment and development of the commission and her re-appointment will provide valuable continuity. She has many years of experience as a civil and public servant, particularly in public interest roles such as Director of Consumer Affairs. She has also previously served as chief executive in both the Employment Equality Agency and Council for the Status of Women.
The Government is also proposing the appointment of Mr. Kieran Fitzgerald as a member of the commission. Mr. Fitzgerald is currently a civil servant occupying the post of head of communications and research in the commission. Previously, he was self-employed as a communications consultant. As a journalist, Mr. Fitzgerald was a senior reporter on RTE's "Prime Time" programme, winning the news and current affairs journalist of the year award in 2000. He has graduate and postgraduate qualifications in law and economics and is in the final stage of a doctorate in governance which he is undertaking through Queen's University Belfast. I have no doubt he will continue to use his considerable communications skills to expand the outreach of the commission to gardaí and the wider community in the coming years.
The combination of the skills and experience of the three nominees will provide the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission with strong and effective leadership over their five year term of office. Under their direction, the commission will continue to provide effective, fair and balanced oversight of policing in this country.
The three nominees are strong candidates for important posts in the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. To carry out their tasks gardaí are rightly given extensive powers, including powers of arrest and detention. These powers, although used in challenging and often dangerous circumstances, must be exercised in a lawful and proportionate manner. It is vital that we fully address allegations of Garda misconduct or wrongdoing in the interest of maintaining public confidence in the force and protecting the professional standing of the overwhelming majority of dedicated and conscientious gardaí. The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is a vital part of our policing structure. It must secure and maintain the trust and confidence of members of the public and the force alike. To do this, it must be led by a team of skilled and competent commissioners. On behalf of the Government, I have no hesitation in recommending these three nominees for the joint committee's approval.
