Cormac O'Keeffe: Justice committee begins examination of 'legislative beast'

Proposed law aims to implement major recommendations of 2018 report, writes Security Correspondent Cormac O'Keeffe

The bill will see the replacement of the existing oversight bodies: Gsoc by the Police Ombudsman, and the Policing Authority and the Garda Inspectorate by the Policing and Community Safety Authority (PCSA)

At 270 pages, the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill is a legislative beast.

The proposed law aims to implement the major recommendations of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland, which published its report in September 2018.

On Tuesday, the Oireachtas Justice Committee begins the committee stage of the bill, where amendments, from the Government and opposition, will be examined.

The legislation, the responsibility of the Department of Justice, includes three key parts:

• Governance and accountability structures for An Garda Síochána;
• Introducing into law the wider policing priority of community safety and making it a legal obligation of multiple state agencies, not just the gardaí;
• A new watchdog for the security services and monitoring of security and organised crime legislation.

The devil is in the detail, and there is a lot of detail in this bill, so much so that the Oireachtas Library & Research Service (L&RS) produced three briefing documents, totalling 140 pages.

The bill will see the replacement of the existing oversight bodies: Gsoc by the Police Ombudsman, and the Policing Authority and the Garda Inspectorate by the Policing and Community Safety Authority (PCSA).

Internally, a new Garda board is being set up, which will both hold the commissioner accountable and provide them with high-level
assistance. The Garda Commissioner will take back power from the Policing Authority on appointments.

Both the commissioner and the board will be accountable to the justice minister.

Criticism

While the proposals are aimed at clarifying the current governance, oversight and accountability structures, many of the proposals have received criticism, including for their complexity, from across the board.

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) is concerned that the independence of the Garda Commissioner is being undermined by ministerial powers.

In addition, the L&RS briefings cited a range of agencies and associations warning that the changes could create confusion for commissioners by making them answerable to “multiple bodies” with potentially overlapping remits.

A new watchdog is the Independent Examiner of Security Legislation.

This marks a radical departure for Ireland’s security services — traditionally cloaked in secrecy and subject to a minimum of external oversight.

However, concerns have been expressed — including by sister bodies in the UK and Australia, on which the Independent Examiner is based — at proposals on its independence and powers.

The L&RS noted concerns from experts, including Donncha O’Connell, a former member of the Policing Commission, at proposed restrictions to confine eligibility for the Independent Examiner to senior judges.

The IHREC said there was no such legislative requirement for the Australian or UK models, where the role has been held by lawyers.

The rights body said the position should be open to non-judicial candidates who have “significant expertise and experience”.

Appointments process

Furthermore, it said that the level of government involvement in the appointment process was “deeply concerning”.

It said there was no requirement for the position to go through the public appointments process, unlike the garda commissioner, members of the authority or police ombudsman.

The L&RS said the Australian security examiner said the Irish position seemed to be a “very big job” given its extensive remit.

A key provision is embedding “community safety” into the work of An Garda Síochána and “legally requiring” other State agencies — such as health, child and social services as well as local authorities — to work with gardaí to protect people.

This is because a lot of garda work is dealing with “social issues”, interacting with people with mental health issues, substance misuse problems, homelessness, children and the elderly — much of it out-of-hours, when they are the only service operating.

New structures include a national community safety steering group, a national office for community safety and 36 local community safety partnerships.

The PCSA will assess the force’s performance in this area and “promote” inter-agency co-operation, but no role, it seems, in holding other agencies to account.