The Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte has called for a review of Garda reform legislation currently before the Dáil, on the grounds that last week's Morris tribunal report expressed concern it did not allow for adequate independent oversight of the force.
In a statement yesterday, he said the Minister for Justice Michael McDowell was seeking "to bamboozle everyone else" about what the report recommended in relation to Garda legislation. He said Mr McDowell last week presented his Garda Síochána Bill "as a pre-prepared response to the tribunal's findings and recommendations. He also insisted that all parties in the Dáil must now support the Bill's immediate enactment into law, as if it had been given Mr Justice Morris's seal of approval." But in fact, Mr Justice Morris was clearly "less than impressed with the adequacy of the Minister's Bill", Mr Rabbitte said.
He noted the report says: "The tribunal is much concerned by the lack of any independent body to receive legitimate concerns about Garda behaviour. The provisions of the Garda Bill need to be reviewed by the Oireachtas, so as to satisfy the legitimate disquiet that arises from the tribunal's study of the documents in this case ... Whatever measures are put in place must ensure that there is, indeed, a body to whom people with legitimate concerns are able to turn."
This was "hardly a ringing endorsement of a Bill the Minister describes as the culmination of the most comprehensive reform of the Garda Síochána since the foundation of the State", said Mr Rabbitte.
The Labour leader said the Morris tribunal had now joined the ranks of those who "have already questioned the adequacy of Minister McDowell's muddled proposals for a Garda Ombudsman Commission. I have no intention of kowtowing to the Minister's timetable on this issue. Compliance with the tribunal's recommendation demands we refuse to comply with Michael McDowell's directive that his flawed Bill be endorsed and passed into law without delay."