A new mandate for real change - O’Higgins Report

AN Garda Síochána has a long and unhappy record with investigations into how the force discharges its duties. 

Virtually every assessment made during the three decades between the 1984 Kerry Babies’ report and the 2014 Garda Inspectorate report found startling failure and uncovered a culture that is insular and self-preserving. Virtually every report found managerial oversight and performance were often inadequate and that a cultural resistance to change persists.

Yesterday’s publication of the long-awaited O’Higgins report will do little to change that record. Rather it confirms that the force is too slow to change and remains susceptible to localised collapses in discipline and standards. Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins confirms that, just as the 2008 Morris report found in relation to Garda failings in Donegal, there were serious flaws and weaknesses in criminal investigations in the Cavan-Monaghan division in 2007 and 2008.