Secrecy does Garda Siochána no credit

Anyone who happens to log on to the website of An Garda Siochána may feel a certain reassurance on reading that its mission is “Working with Communities to Protect and Serve.” 

They may feel even more gratified to be advised that "An Garda Síochána is committed to being open, accountable and transparent regarding the services we provide for and to the public."

What they will not be told is that there are areas where the force will show itself to be anything but accountable or transparent when it comes to the behaviour of its own members.

That is the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the decision by garda authorities to refuse a Freedom of Information request to disclose how many members of the force hold a criminal conviction. The request, made by a journalist with the Press Association, did not seek the names of the officers involved, simply the number.

It is commonplace for police forces in many other jurisdictions, including England, Wales and Northern Ireland, to reveal that kind of information on the basis that the public have a right to know how many of their police protectors are breaking the law rather than upholding it.

The decision to refuse what was, after all, a legitimate and reasonable request was made on the basis that criminal convictions of Garda members are ’personal information.’

It is a decision that does the Garda Siochána no credit.