Lack of resources blamed for diminished Garda service

The standard of service the Garda can provide has diminished because resources are a problem, the head of the Policing Authority has said.

Chairwoman Josephine Feehily said while she was frustrated at the rate of change with parts of the Garda culture and some of its practices, the reduced staffing levels within the force needed to be considered.

“We cannot expect an excellent service from a policing service that just does not have the people in post,” she said.

Ms Feehily was responding to questions from Independents 4 Change's Mick Wallace TD and Clare Daly TD at the joint Oireachtas committee of Justice.

She also told them while she was frustrated that she and her staff had still not assumed the power of Garda appointments, she was hoping for developments in that area very quickly.

Ms Daly said many in the Garda feared speaking up because whistleblowers had been poorly treated, and the fact the appointments process within the Garda was still not independent meant their careers could be subtly blocked. She also said some senior officers against whom complaints had been made had won promotion in recent years.

Culture change

Ms Feehily said she believed the transfer of the appointments function to the Policing Authority was an important piece of culture change required in the Garda. She forecast the change would be completed by the end of the year, adding that dialogue on the issue with Minister for Justice

Frances Fitzgerald

had been positive.

She said because the authority was only nine months old, it was still becoming established and becoming part of the Garda “oversight regime”.

The biggest challenge at present was the authority’s work in devising a “performance framework” off which it could gauge and judge Garda performance long-term.

It was also devising a code of ethics for the Garda and Ms Feehily believed it was “90 per cent there”.

The authority was also drawing up plans, at the request of Ms Fitzgerald, to move more Garda members into high-visibility posts and to replace those in desk-bound or administrative posts with civilian employees.