Madam, – A systemic dysfunction in the operation of the Garda Síochána, identified in the reports of the Morris tribunal was the lack of any requirement in law for a garda to account for his or her actions on duty. The Garda Síochána Act 2005 remedied this, obliging a garda, if required by a senior officer or by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), to so account.
The president of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors, Mr Paschal Feeney, describes as “simply disgraceful” (April 7th) the fact that 68 gardaí detailed for duty at a public order incident near Bellinaboy, Co Mayo on June 11th 2007, were served with notices of complaint by GSOC.
Explaining that many of these members had not actually been deployed on the day, he added: “Those members fear that they will have that record, in the offices of GSOC until their service ceases and that record could be resurrected against them at any time.”
Mr Feeney has skewed the facts in his public comments on GSOC. GSOC did not serve notices of complaint. It requested the Garda authorities to notify gardaí who were detailed for duty that a complaint had been received. This is required by law, even where gardaí who are complained of may not yet have been identified. Its purpose, inter alia, is to give fair notice and to ensure due process for gardaí themselves. In the event, the involvement of most of the gardaí was as potential witnesses.
If independent oversight is to be effective and if the “duty to account” is to be meaningful, GSOC has to be able to identify which Garda members may have been on duty at any given time and place. In turn, it must rely on the Garda authorities to provide that information.
Mr Feeney need have no fear that GSOC is investigating gardaí who were not present or that it is compiling a “record that could be resurrected . . . at any time” in relation to such members. GSOC has enough to do without chasing shadows.
The procedures now in place for the investigation of complaints may seem irksome to gardaí. But they are thorough and fair to all and they are here to stay. It is regrettable, at this stage, to hear Garda representatives declaring their support, in theory, for independent oversight but complaining about its operation in practice. – Yours, etc,