New ideas on reform are needed - Challenging dysfunction

Any reasonable person must be worn out by the daily disclosure of dysfunction, indifference and neglect in public life. 

The unending litany of indictment must have an affect on those criticised, especially those criticised unfairly. Nevertheless, the epic but sadly justified charge sheet has a terribly dispiriting impact on those who believe, despite such unrelenting, powerful evidence, that we are capable of remaking the civic morality underpinning what it means to be Irish.

That it takes so very long to complete — or even recognise that one is necessary — a reform project is at the root of the dangerous disconnect between the institutions of our democracy and those who choose not to vote in any election, a figure wavering dangerously around 50%. A slapdash State can only rely on emotional patriotism or engagement for so long, eventually disappointment becomes disconnected disillusion.

Thankfully, this process is not relentlessly gloomy. Positive economic data suggests that we can, even at the eleventh hour, confront the beast and take very difficult remedial action. It is disheartening though that we routinely wait until catastrophe knocks at the door before doing what was obviously needed — and right — for some considerable time.

Last July a review of the Department of Justice found a “closed, secretive” culture and recommended a “programme for fundamental and sustained organisational and cultural change and renewal”. Department secretary Brian Purcell was transferred though his pay was not reduced. This gesture will be judged as empty symbolism and profoundly cynical news management unless the Department, and those responsible to it, especially the gardaí, embrace radical change. This weekend four areas where this change is awaited have been highlighted.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald confirmed that of the 419 prisoners who escaped from jail since 2009 32 are still free. Though these figures represent are a considerable improvement on earlier years it is still far less than ideal that in a relatively small country that this is the case — even if some fugitives have gone abroad. The confirmation that gardai fail to serve more than one-in-three court summonses feeds into the narrative that the force needs a spectacular overhaul. Courts Services figures show that out of 288,609 summonses issued only 102,894 were served and almost 650,000 summonses were not served between 2009 and 2012. Apart at all from making a mockery of our justice system this shows a level of inefficiency unimaginable in an organisation where professional standards prevail.

Weekend revelations that the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission sought to have a senior garda, who is still serving, charged over the Boylan affair and that the Department of Justice’s anti-money laundering unit is stymied by some law firms adds to the list of challenges. It is unlikely that these issues will be resolved in the lifetime of this Government suggesting that the cyclical nature of our politics means we have to find a way to move essential project like these outside the normal timeframe of parliamentary politics.