Commissioner trapped in a culture she simply cannot change alone

It’s going to be like the football premiership, with managers on a permanent merry-go-round, writes Fergus Finlay

HOW do you reform the Garda Síochána? That’s easy, isn’t it? Fire the commissioner, appoint a foreigner, and the job is done.

Instantly, any doubts or reservations we might have about some of the things that have happened in the organisation would disappear. Mistreatment of whistle blowers? Falsification of breath-test results? Mismanagement of funds? Sure that all happened in the past. Nothing to see here now. The new guy (or woman, but don’t hold your breath for that), will have it all sorted overnight. Any problem or history of culture or systems will disappear the minute we sack the commissioner.