Department of Justice to be split in two after scandals

The Department of Justice is to be split but will remain under one minister, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has confirmed.

The department and An Garda Síochána has been rocked by scandals in recent years that have led to the resignation of two ministers, two secretaries general, and the retirement of two Garda commissioners.

Mr Varadkar said he still has “concerns” about how the department is operating given “all that has happened in the past couple of years”.

As part of a major overhaul of the Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána, Mr Varadkar said the department will be split next year. One secretary general will remain over both divisions.

“What is proposed is an internal division so there would be one secretary general of the department and two deputy secretaries general of the two wings,” said Mr Varadkar.

“It is our intention to proceed with that reform in 2018, having a new secretary general, and two deputy secretaries general over the two new sections of the department,” the Taoiseach told reporters during a round-table briefing.

Mr Varadkar said he had spoken to Kevin Toland — author of the 2014 report which looked at how the department should be reformed — as well as Kathleen O’Toole, who is heading up the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland.

In his report, Mr Toland recommended “fundamental and sustained organisational and cultural change” to address “significant leadership and management problems” that existed.

Mr Toland advised splitting the department into separate Justice and Home Affairs portfolios.

The Justice division would include civil and criminal law reform, crime and security, and international policy, while Home Affairs would take in policing, prisons, courts, courts, equality, and integration.

He recommended the deputy secretary general take over Home Affairs.

“In terms of the Toland report, a good chunk of that has been implemented, a good chunk of it hasn’t,” said Mr Varadkar.

While a complete split of the department into two separate entities has not been recommended, Mr Varadkar suggested he is open to the more radical measure in the future.

“You could go one further; now [Mr Toland] doesn’t recommend it, but it would be the norm in other countries. You could go one further and split it into two fully separate departments at a later date.

“It is the norm in other countries and, in the case of the UK, you have a department of justice and a department of home affairs.”

A “slight complication” would be the fact that the Constitution only allows for 15 senior cabinet ministers meaning that the creation of two justice departments would mean an existing department would have to be abolished.

“I am not yet sure which department people would axe as they all do very important work,” he said.

An Garda Síochána has faced numerous controversies in recent years, including the quashing of penalty points; alleged smear campaigns carried out to discredit whistleblowers; the revelation that 2m false alcohol breath tests were recorded; and the uncovering of financial irregularities at the Garda training college in Templemore.

Mr Varadkar said part of the reason why some revelations have emerged in relation to the gardaí was due to reforms, such as the Protected Disclosures Act in protecting whistleblowers, and introducing a Policing Authority with civilians in senior positions in the Garda.

“When you are reforming something, part of the process is people lifting up mats and looking under rugs and sometimes you see things you don’t want to see and you have to deal with them and we are going to deal with them,” he said.