O’Sullivan appears to tightly control information

Interesting at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice yesterday were the differing stances taken by interim Garda Commissioner Noirín O'Sullivan and lecturer in journalism and senior NUJ official Ronan Brady around the Garda's sharing of information with the public, via the media.

The approach to how the media will be handled by the Garda under the next commissioner will be crucial in demonstrating whether the force is to become more open and transparent or takes a more insular and secretive approach in reaction to the recent scandals.

It is also via its work on the ground, and how it sells that performance in the media, that public trust in the Garda will be rebuilt. Brady told the committee he had yet to meet a journalist who was happy with the level of co-operation displayed by the Garda in the course of their work.

Unthinkable

He said current legislation that banned Garda members from speaking to journalists would be unthinkable in other democracies. He suggested the tendency among gardaí to “send everything upstairs” when dealing with the media was at the centre of much of the force’s recent difficulties. He believed it was part of the same closed culture that, for example, brought the Garda into conflict with the Garda

Ombudsman Commission

. The commission has complained repeatedly the force was failing to meet its obligations in the provision of information, documents and other evidence when investigating allegations made against gardaí.

He believed a commitment to be more open, sharing more information and embracing measures such as the Freedom of Information Act would make the force more progressive and also make it appear more progressive.

Cautious

Commissioner O’Sullivan, perhaps understandably, was much more cautious on this issue. As with most of her responses yesterday, she skirted around the question and avoided expressing any direct opinions. But she warned that any changes to the legislation to which Brady referred must be considered in the context of safeguarding the privacy of those people – victims, witnesses and perpetrators one presumes – the Garda dealt with daily.

Privacy was also cited when questions about Sgt Maurice McCabe arose that did not suit her, though there were no such concerns when she informed the committee it was she who instructed his access to Pulse to be reinstated.

Drugs Unit

It sounded as though the media was an issue she had not given much thought to. But nothing could be further from the truth.

Indeed, soon after taking up her new post she admonished members of the Garda National Drugs Unit after information about a drug seizure entered the public domain via the media. Several sources in Garda headquarters suggest that she appears keen to keep tight control on the nature of information that emerges from the force and how and when it emerges.

In the past week, and despite having been placed into her job on an interim basis only, she has decided to transfer the head of the Garda press office to another post, readying that job for somebody of her choosing.

These could be interpreted as the early signs of a move to a more insular and secretive police force, of one person’s need for control, which is exactly the opposite of what is required now and which will lead to further disaster.

Or they could be the first steps on the path to openness and transparency that must now come to characterise a police force that still has plenty of good stories to tell.