DPP’s office could face ‘significant reorganisation’

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has said her office could face “the most significant reorganisation of the prosecution service” since its establishment if the Government pursues a revamp of how cases are brought to court.

In her foreword to the recently published Strategy Statement 2019-2021, Claire Loftus said: “A new challenge which faces the Office is the implications of the recommendations made by the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland on Garda involvement in the prosecutorial function.

“Depending on the extent to which these recommendations are implemented this could involve the most significant reorganisation of the prosecution service since the establishment of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.”

In the body of the report, the Office of the DPP refersred to the Report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, published in 2018, a year ago, which recommended that all prosecution decisions should be taken away from An Garda Síochána and given to an expanded state solicitor or national prosecution service.

The report also recommended that the practice of gardaí prosecuting cases in court should stop. Last December, the Government adopted the recommendations in principle, and outlined a review of the prosecutorial decision-making function and the role of gardaí in the presentation of cases in court.

According to the report:

“If implemented, these recommendations will fundamentally change the delivery of the prosecution service on a national level. While still at a very early stage of consideration, there is no doubt that the implementation of these recommendations would pose a very significant challenge and would have major resource implications.” Later

In the report, the Office of the DPP referred to challenges, including the complexity of cases, the increase in the number of prosecution files submitted, and the “increasingly onerous” disclosure of material in advance of criminal trials.

It said: “The rapid rate of developments in technology means that disclosure issues will continue to present significant challenges for the prosecution in the coming years.”

It also referred to issues around succession planning.

“Currently, 21% of staff in the office are over 55 years of age,” said the report.

“Because of this age profile, it is likely that there will be a significant loss of both legal expertise and corporate knowledge in the short to medium term.

Over the lifetime of this Strategy Statement, we must ensure that we plan for this eventuality and have in place knowledge management strategies and succession programmes to counteract the adverse effect of this loss of expertise.

“Plans to continue the expansion of the Garda workforce and to redeploy experienced gardaí to front-line policing duties, will inevitably result in an increase in the number of investigation files submitted to this Office.

"This development will be closely monitored by this Office to ensure that the necessary resources are made available in the event of a substantial increase in workload.”