Inefficiencies and indiscipline among gardaí will be dealt with, says Minister for Justice

Where there are inefficiencies and indiscipline in An Garda Síochána they have to be dealt with, Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has said.

She was responding to the latest reports of alleged inappropriate cancellation of penalty points by members of the force.

Ms Fitzgerald said the force had been through “an extremely difficult time”.

But she said it was also very important to “reflect and speak about the positive work that’s done by An Garda Síochána, protecting our communities, keeping the security of the State to the forefront”.

“But clearly where there are inefficiencies, where there’s indiscipline, that has to be dealt with.”

Ms Fitzgerald said that where organisational reform was needed, it had to happen and that this was underway.

“But obviously it is difficult for those frontline gardai out there when they hear one scandal after another and they want to move on and do the job as we saw with the 100 new recruits yesterday.

“But equally, any allegations of wrongdoing have to be investigated.”

Garda whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe is to be seconded to the Garda unit investigating his allegations of continued abuses of the penalty points system.

Ms Fitzgerald said the latest allegations would be investigated and the findings would be published.

“We are listening to the whistleblower,” she said.

“He is involved with the gardai in assessing precisely what is involved, what the scale of it is.”

The Minister said new guidelines had been in place since June.

“It’s a very different situation so let’s see precisely what has been happening since June.”

Ms Fitzgerald was asked to respond concerns expressed by the general secretary of the Garda Representative Association PJ Stone that gardai were not getting to tell their side of the story.

The Minister said it was “very important” that they did get an opportunity to tell their side.

But she said the terms of reference for a commission to be set up following the Guerin report on the penalty points issue had been delayed because a review mechanism had been set up.

“The reason that the terms of reference were delayed (was) because we set up a review mechanism for cases where there had been complaints about gardaí. We have over 270 cases that have been referred. Many of these are historic cases. Many have been through the courts, they’ve been through GSOC. But the decision was taken to let’s see what the outcome of that review mechanism is and whether it would be appropriate to refer some of those cases to a new commission.”

Ms Fitzgerald said she would be getting a report “shortly” on how that review mechanism was going but that it remained a priority to deal with the terms of reference for the commission.

She was speaking at Dublin airport where she announced details of a programme to civilianise immigration functions currently carried out by gardaí.

Some 80 civilian staff will be deployed at the airport’s immigration control area and the cost savings would be “several million”, the Minister said.

The Minister said the programme would result in approximately 125 gardaí being redeployed; 75 as a result of the civilianisation of immigration checks at Dublin Airport and 50 from the transfer of the immigration permission registration function from An Garda Síochána to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service of the Department of Justice and Equality (INIS).

It builds on a pilot programme running for the last 18 months. Some 16 civilian INIS staff are currently deployed on passport booth duties in Terminal 1 on a 9am-5pm basis.

The move to a 24/7 civilian operation in Terminal 1 is expected to be completed next summer with Terminal 2 completed by December 2015.

The Minister said the implementation of the first phase of this civilianisation programme would commence immediately.

Further phases commencing next year will focus on deploying civilian officers to other major ports of entry to the State.

“The establishment of a permanent frontline uniformed civilian border control unit is a step-change in the State’s approach to managing our borders,” Ms Fitzgerald said.

“However, it is only right that the commitment and contribution of An Garda Síochána to protecting our borders since the foundation of the State be given full recognition and our deepest appreciation. They will continue to provide core policing functions at the Airport and support the civilian staff as appropriate.”

A panel will be drawn up by the Public Appointments Service, which has been recruiting for the positions.