Cooke report a ‘launch pad’ for better relations

The Cooke report into alleged surveillance at the offices of the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) will act as a "launch pad" for improved relations between the organisations, the acting Garda commissioner has said.

"It exonerates An Garda Siochana and also it found that no surveillance took place at the offices of GSOC, much less conducted by members of An Garda Siochana," Noirin O'Sullivan said of the report published this week by Mr Justice John Cooke.

In his report, Mr Justice Cooke said while there was no evidence of any surveillance at GSOC’s offices in Dublin’s north inner city, the equipment currently available for espionage was so sophisticated that he could never completely rule out the possibility that some form of bugging had taken place.

It also said the results of tests on a landline in GSOC's offices by the UK security firm Verrimus, and interpreted by it as a sign of bugging, remained unexplained.

GSOC chairman Simon O’Brien this week said those conclusions meant the possibility of bugging had clearly not been ruled out and that questions remained.

Ms O’Sullivan said a new chapter in the often troubled relationship between the Garda and GSOC had already begun to emerge.

“That relationship with GSOC is very important. Independent and effective oversight is very important to enhance public confidence, not just in An Garda Siochana but also the oversight bodies that are there,” she said.

“We very much look at the Cooke report as a launch pad to continue to improve the relationship between ourselves and GSOC and we very much look forward to that constructive engagement with GSOC.”

Ms O’Sullivan is in her post on an interim basis pending the recruitment of a permanent commissioner via the first open competition ever to fill the job. She will be a candidate.

She said she had already moved to shore up Garda oversight by improving the force’s relations, not only with GSOC, but also with the Garda inspectorate and confidential recipient.

“I’ve met with the three commissioners of GSOC recently,” she said. “I’ve also met with other staff from GSOC and they were very productive meetings; we’ve had very productive engagement.

“I’ve met with the chairman of GSOC again in recent times, along with the (Garda inspectorate) chief inspector and the confidential recipient.

“The purpose of that was to have a clear path (for Garda whistleblowers) to bring forward issues that they want to address; that, if you like, the four strands are working together and that people have confidence both internally and externally in the mechanisms that are there.”

Ms O’Sullivan was speaking today at the opening of a new exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland - Country Life in Turlough Park in Castlebar, Co Mayo, titled Preserving the Peace: Policing on the Island of Ireland 1814-2014.

The exhibition marks the 200-year anniversary of the Peace Preservation Act of 1814 which provided for modern policing across the island of Ireland, and will run until April of next year.

Ms O’Sullivan said it captured the legacy of policing on the island of Ireland and also the “brotherhood of policing” between the Garda and counterparts in the North.

“We very much have a shared history, shared challenges and a lot in common. The fact we’re here together at the opening of this; I think that’s indicative of how far policing on the island has come and the relationships between the PSNI and An Garda Siochana.”

PSNI temporary deputy chief constable Alistair Finlay said the relationship was at its best ever “and would only get better”.

A similar situation prevailed between senior politicians both sides of the border and the new exhibition afforded an examination of the shared heritage of policing north and south.