Background: What is the Garda Inspectorate?

The Garda Inspectorate is a three-member team established on July 26th, 2006. The chief inspector is Robert K Olson, and his two deputy chief inspectors are Mark Toland, formerly of the London Metropolitan Police, and Debra Kirby, formerly of Chicago Police Department.

The objective of the Garda Inspectorate is to “ensure that the resources available to the Garda are used so as to achieve and maintain the highest levels of efficiency and effectiveness in its operation and administration, as measured by reference to the best standards of comparable police services”.

The inspectorate carries out its functions by undertaking inspections in relation to any particular aspects of the operation and administration of the Garda, as requested to do so by the Minister for Justice. It also reports on and provides advice to the Minister with regard to best policing practice.

In July 2012, the inspectorate team began work on its remit from the minister for justice to review the entire crime investigation process utilised by the Garda. The inspection included all the ancillary and support processes involved in investigating crime and reviewed the day-to-day work of Garda staff.

Over two years of research, the inspectorate described in detail the processes involved in the everyday investigation of crime in Ireland .

On May 26th, 2014, following the Guerin report, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald directed the inspectorate to “carry out an inquiry into all of the crime investigation and other Garda management, operational and procedural issues identified in the Guerin report relevant to your statutory remit, and report to me as soon as possible”.

It was not within the inspectorate’s remit to duplicate Mr Guerin’s work by examining the action taken by the Garda in response to the relevant complaints, but rather to review the process issues identified in Mr Guerin’s report relevant to Garda practices and procedures.

Consequently, the contents of the Guerin Report were considered against the backdrop of the inspectorate’s ongoing and comprehensive inspection of crime investigation and crime prevention by the Garda.