Irish Examiner view: Livestream of 999 meeting is welcome

Transparency over 999 calls is the best policy given that this is an issue which may not yet have delivered all its embarrassing details

Garda Commissioner Drew Harris will face another interview about the progress of the inquiry later this month. File picture

The decision by the Policing Authority to livestream the next meeting into the long-running and, as yet unresolved, controversy over 999 calls is a welcome development because of the scale of the numbers involved.

At the end of this month, Garda commissioner Drew Harris will face another interview about the progress of the inquiry into how more than 200,000 999 calls between 2019 and 2020 were cancelled.

More than 3,000 were related to domestic violence, a particularly sensitive area of crime. While many cancellations were found to be valid or duplicates, thousands were incorrectly scrapped.

While Mr Harris has already answered questions on several occasions, most recently on September 23, there is exasperation within the authority that the practice is continuing despite an “intense focus” on the problem and attempts within Garda HQ to eradicate it.

Mr Harris said last month that 53 calls had been terminated despite the implementation of new procedures. He added that he did not understand the motivation behind the cancellations and said disciplinary proceedings would follow.

An independent, external preliminary examination being conducted by former assistant chief constable Derek Penman of Police Scotland is ongoing, but a range of issues, including legal problems with accessing the calls, means the report is “unlikely to conclude for some time”. Public confidence in the emergency system is an essential component of how society functions effectively and it is wise to keep citizens fully briefed while investigations are brought to a conclusion.

Mr Harris has been candid with his answers, and in expressing his disappointment, so far. Transparency is the best policy given that this is an issue which may not yet have delivered all its embarrassing details. We will, no doubt, hear more on October 28.