In danger of becoming a spent force - Need for Garda Síochána reform

THE row over the Taoiseach’s handling of the premature retirement of former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan is, in many ways, a diversion from the urgent need for major root and branch reform of the Garda Siochána and our criminal justice system in general.

The interim report by Mr Justice Fennelly reveals a number of serious shortcomings in the operation of the force and in how senior management relate to the Department of Justice and the office of the Attorney General.

The report finds that although the Attorney General Máire Whelan considered that she had discovered, in the spring of last year, a matter of the gravest possible public concern regarding the gardaí and believed it warranted being raised with the Taoiseach, “no contact was made with nor inquiry made of either of the two people most obviously concerned and responsible”.