Reform of the Justice Department 'a work in progress'

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said that reform of her department is a "work in progress".

Last year an independent review of the Department of Justice was carried out by Kevin Toland, following criticism in the Guerin Report into garda conduct.

The secretary of the department Brian Purcell stepped aside last July after the Toland report was published.

It identified five key issues including a "closed, secretive and silo-driven culture" at the department.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald insisted today that changes have been made in the wake of the Toland report, but there is more to be done.

"Of course I'm endorsing the ongoing work of the ongoing reform - of course I am - and I am saying that everybody is working to be the best possible department that we can be, by looking at the Toland Report, taking it seriously and dealing with each of the issues identified in that," she said.

"But it's a work in progress, of course it is."