The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has said a proposed new "culture of accountability" within An Garda Síochána should include methods of measuring the performance of the force against human rights standards. Conor Lally, Crime Correspondent, reports
ICCL director Mark Kelly said while he welcomed the recommendations on Garda reform from an expert group, he said steps must be taken immediately to ensure respect for human rights becomes central to the proposed reforms.
He was speaking after the publication on Thursday of the report of the Advisory Group on Garda Management and Leadership, chaired by former senator Maurice Hayes.
The recommendations in the report, which were reported in The Irish Times yesterday, included a variety of measures on accountability and formal performance reviews for senior Garda officers and Garda units.
An extensive civilianisation process has also been recommended along with a "fast track" career path regime for selected young members of the force.
Mr Kelly said the new report was clearly calling for what he termed a "culture of accountability" across the force. "As the ICCL has consistently stressed, this should include measuring the performance of members of An Garda Síochána against human rights standards," he said.
"There is an urgent need for the introduction of a human rights monitoring framework that will assist a new generation of Garda managers to render our police service fully human rights compliant."
Fine Gael described the advisory group's report as "radical" saying many of the proposals "appear to have merit". The party's justice spokesman Jim O'Keeffe TD said the force would benefit from adopting many of the group's private sector-style recommendations. He plans to invite Maurice Hayes to appear before the Oireachtas Justice Committee.
"The proposals to fast-track certain gardaí are also welcome, including the recommendation that they should be encouraged to participate in graduate and post-graduate degree programmes," he said.
"However, I believe it is crucial that all gardaí involved in core policing duties will continue to gain some experience of basic policing at an early stage of their career, and that they maintain regular contact with the communities they serve."
Mr O'Keeffe also noted that the group's report had been critical of the Garda's record on civilianisation, saying Fine Gael had long campaigned for a comprehensive civilianisation process that would free up desk-bound gardaí.