Senior management in An Garda Síochána will formulate "a comprehensive response" in the coming weeks to the Garda Inspectorate report which was highly critical of aspects of how the force is run and administered, Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan has said.
The report says root-and-branch reform of the force is urgently required and it condemns the “minimal and often ineffective” changes made in the organisation over the years. It calls for “a significant reduction in senior managers” and the “removal of many layers of administration and duplication”.
Ms O'Sullivan said she had not yet received a copy of the report, published on Wednesday but reported in The Irish Times at the weekend, and would not be drawn on the specifics of it. She expected Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald would forward her a copy shortly and she and her senior managers would then study it closely before issuing a response.
“We will be examining the report and we will be giving our observations to the Minister and in line with all the other specialist reports, some of its recommendations will inform our strategic plan which will be publishing shortly,” she said.
The Garda Inspectorate, which was set up in 2006 following the Morris tribunal into complaints against the Garda in Donegal, reviews all aspects of Garda resourcing, culture, practices and procedures, and recommends reform.
The report Changing Policing in Ireland, which comes 20 months after Ms O'Sullivan's appointment as commissioner, was drawn up by Robert Olson, a former chief of police in Minneapolis.
Visible patrols
The inspectorate finds “limited evidence” the Garda has followed the reforms put in place by other police forces as they dealt with spending cuts. Frontline policing has not been protected during the reduction in numbers. “There is a need to increase the number of gardaí on visible patrols.”
It finds rosters to be inefficient, with more officers working on Tuesday nights than on Saturday nights. More than a third of all Garda districts have no community officer.
Asked if the Garda Inspectorate criticisms of the current rostering regime as being inefficient would have implications for the force, Ms O’Sullivan pointed out that An Garda Síochána had given serious consideration to all previous inspectorate reports and this would be no different.
“This will be report number 11 of the Garda Inspectorate – we have carefully examined and considered the previous reports of the Garda Inspectorate including the most recent one on crime investigation, some of which has been addressed by the launch today,” said Ms O’Sullivan, who was speaking to reporters in Waterford where a new Garda victims service was launched.
“We will consider this report in conjunction with those and the recommendations included in those reports will inform our strategic plan which we will be publishing in the coming weeks.”
Ms O’Sullivan declined to comment on criticisms regarding the lack of a cybercrime unit in the force.
