Under the provisions of Section 8(4)(a) of the National Treasury Management Agency (Amendment) Act, 2000, the State Claims Agency shall advise and assist a State Authority whenever it considers it appropriate to do so or is requested by such an authority to do so in relation to the measures to be taken to prevent the occurrence, or to reduce the incidence, of acts, omissions or other matters occasioning, or that may occasion, delegated claims against such an authority, including measures to identify sources of risk that may occasion such claims. Paragraphs (1) to (4) of section 8 (4) (b) also refer.
I have been informed that against the background of the above statutory provisions, the State Claims Agency provided a confidential report, concerning Garda driving etc., to the Garda authorities for consideration and discussion between the Agency and the Gardaí.
I have also been informed that the State Claims Agency is dependent on a strong and good working relationship with the State authorities when it carries out risk reviews. This has worked extremely well on the basis that the State Claims Agency acts as an agent on behalf of the State authority and that the report becomes the State authority's once it is completed. The view of the State Claims Agency is that the publishing of such risk reviews might inhibit the capacity of the State Claims Agency to carry out reviews in the future.
In this particular case, as part of its review, the State Claims Agency looked for appropriate benchmarks to allow it to compare the performance of An Garda Síochána with that of an analogous organisation. Having considered the key characteristics of the Garda driving operation, it was considered that it was not comparable with the driving operations of other emergency services such as ambulances and fire brigades. Benchmarks which were eventually settled on were found in UK police forces. As such, I am advised by the State Claims Agency that the findings of the report would not be of particular relevance to other emergency services. In view of the foregoing I will not be publishing the report at this time.
