Paul Donnelly
Question:540. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Justice if recommendations ten and 11 of the Garda Inspectorate Report in 2019 on Public Order Training have been fully implemented. [54752/23]
View answerTuesday, 12 December 2023
Questions (540)
Written answers
As the Deputy will be aware, under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 (as amended), the Garda Commissioner is responsible for the administration and management of An Garda Síochána, including for training and equipping Garda members. As Minister, I have no role in such matters.
As the Deputy may be aware, the Garda Síochána Inspectorate, at the request of the Policing Authority, carried out a review of public order policing. The context for the review was the Authority’s oversight and assessment of Garda performance at two public order incidents that occurred at An Cosán and North Frederick Street, in 2014 and 2018 respectively, as well as its assessment of An Garda Síochána’s reports on these incidents.
The Inspectorate published its report ‘Public Order Policing – A review of practices in the Garda Síochána’ in April 2019. The Policing Authority has had a number of oversight meetings with An Garda Síochána held in public and private to consider the progress made in the areas highlighted in the report including the command structure, policy, training and the process of review and learning lessons. This work is ongoing.
As the Deputy will be aware, under recommendation ten of the report, the Inspectorate recommends that staff in the new regional control rooms and the DMR Command and Control Centre have the capacity and capability to manage all spontaneous incidents, such as critical firearms and public order incidents.
I am advised by the Garda authorities that An Garda Síochána operates four Regional Control Centres to handle calls for service and to dispatch resources. Each centre has a number of personnel who operate as Critical and Firearms Incident Command (CFIC) Dispatchers. These personnel undergo a one week specialist training course with the Special Tactics & Operations Command of An Garda Síochána.
They are trained to coordinate the response of An Garda Síochána to critical incidents and firearms incidents. The CFIC Dispatcher is required to dispatch the appropriate level of response necessary to deal with the incident and to control those resources until the incident is resolved. Training in relation to CFIC has been ongoing since 2018.
I am advised that the training provided to CFIC Dispatchers is currently under review with a view to expanding it to include additional training in public order and the management of vehicle pursuits. To progress this, the Garda National Public Order Steering Group members and representatives from the Regional Control Centres have developed a lesson plan in relation to the deployment of Public Order personnel and tactical advisors. The plan must now be approved internally for implementation and roll out in line with the national structure of Regional Control Centres.
In addition, in quarter 1 2022, a briefing seminar was delivered to DMR Senior management in relation to the Garda National Public Order Unit (GNPOU) capabilities and the role of tactical advisors, the plan is to roll these briefings out as part of the wider Garda National Public Order Steering Group (GNPOSG) work.
Under recommendation eleven of the report, the Inspectorate recommends that the Department of Justice plan legislation for the recording of images in public, and fully supports the use of photographic and video equipment by the Garda Síochána at public events for evidence-gathering purposes.
As the Deputy may be aware, the Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Act recently passed all remaining stages in the Dáil, and will now go to the President for signature. The Act provides for body worn cameras, Garda CCTV, automatic number plate recognition, and Community CCTV.
Importantly, the crucial introduction of body-worn cameras is being accelerated through a separate proof of concept (POC) project involving the deployment of body-worn cameras in Dublin city centre.
I have also instructed my officials to include the offences of rioting and violent disorder in the new Facial Recognition Bill, which will be ready to go to Government as soon as possible.