A planned new inspectorate to deal with complaints against gardaí will have all the powers of a police ombudsman and more, the Minister of State at the Department of Justice has said.
Mr Willie O'Dea said he hoped the three-member independent Garda Inspectorate would be established later this year.
Mr O'Dea's announcement yesterday has gone some way to addressing calls from human rights groups for an independent Garda Ombudsman to replace the current Garda Complaints Board.
The groups have been lobbying for an ombudsman with the same legal powers of arrest as a member of the Garda and an independent right to conduct an investigation without a formal complaint.
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and the Irish Human Rights Commission welcomed the Department's intention to give the inspectorate the powers of an ombudsman, but still have outstanding concerns about its role and perceived independence.
Mr O'Dea made his announcement about the inspectorate at a seminar in Dublin yesterday on a human rights approach to policing, organised by the ICCL.
Speaking on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Dea said Mr McDowell intended the inspectorate to have "comprehensive powers of investigation, fully equal to those that might be given to an ombudsman".
Mr McDowell recognised that the Irish Human Rights Commission was concerned about the compatibility between the inspectorate's proposed role of examining not only complaints, but also Garda practices and procedures. There was also an assumption that the role of the inspectorate would be broadly similar to the role of the UK Inspectorate of Constabulary, the tasks of which included ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces. "I want to say clearly that this is not the Minister's intention," Mr O'Dea said.
"In fact, he intends proposing that the function of the inspectorate in examining Garda practices and procedures will be focused on those practices and procedures which could give rise to complaints or significant public concern rather than, for instance, issues such as efficiency, value for money, etc.
"In other words, there will be a very close and fully compatible link, and no tension, between the two proposed functions of the inspectorate."
He added that the commission would have the opportunity to examine the inspectorate proposals in greater detail as soon as the Minister obtained the approval of the Government to draft a Bill. "The Minister very much hopes that the detail of his proposals will significantly address their initial misgivings."
Mr Michael Farrell, from the commission, said the Minister seemed to be taking on board its concerns and this was welcome. He added, however, that there "would still be a concern that a body with some sort of managerial type function would not be seen as sufficiently independent".
Public confidence in the Garda Síochána was at a "fairly low ebb" and any future complaints mechanism should be a dedicated single-purpose body. The ICCL, which issued a policy paper on police reform at yesterday's seminar, including a call for a Garda Ombudsman, said that if the Minister accepted the principles behind an ombudsman, it "remained unclear why \ just won't call it that".
Mr Liam Herrick, from the council, said: "It's going to have all the powers of an ombudsman so why not call it that? Why confuse issues?"