THE murder of Veronica Guerin last June was undoubtedly a wake up call to a Government which had responded to the growth in gangland crime in a serious but measured way.
Within days of her death, ministers were unveiling a series of law and order initiatives calculated to allay public fears that it was losing the battle against crime. Among the measures announced by the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, and the Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, was an overhaul of the Garda to ensure that the force operated more effectively.
The overhaul was to begin with a report by a Government appointed group under the "Strategic Management Initiative" (SMI), a programme for reform already followed in Government Departments.
The group's terms of reference were: "(a) to examine the operation of the Garda Siochana against the background of the challenges it now faces and is likely to face; (b) to consider the relationship between the Garda Siochana and other State agencies in the broad crime area, and (c) to make recommendations to the Government at the earliest opportunity - but in any event, not later than 31st December, 1996 - for change that would be likely to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the Garda Siochana, including the time scale for implementation, in relation in particular to the role and functions of the force, its management structures and systems, policing practices, manpower and other resources issues, training and development and deployment of resources including manpower.
The Government added that the new Garda Commissioner, who had not yet been appointed, would be required to cooperate fully with the SMI group and implement its findings.
At the time, ministers made it clear that a comprehensive review of the force had been initiated. However the SMI report, now ready for submission to Government, appears to lay more stress on proposing new laws than on overhauling the Garda.
The 150 page document makes some 15 recommendations for important legal changes, but much of the review of the force's structure has been left to one side.
Over the last 10 months, the SMI group met regularly at the Taoiseach's offices in Government Buildings (the report is destined for submission to the Taoiseach rather than the Minister for Justice).
In the early stages the work progressed relatively calmly. Management consultants Deloitte and Touche were hired to draw up their own reports on the Garda, which would form a basis for the SMI group's discussions. Garda management also produced some of its plans and other groups, such as the Garda representative associations, were invited to make submissions.
After submitting two reports to the SMI group, the consultants' work was finished by last Christmas. With the deadline for submission of its own report drawing near, the SMI group was allowed extra time to compete its work.
It was after Christmas that the most serious divisions in the group emerged, when severe new laws were proposed. Some, such as a "hot pursuit" law which would allow Gardai to enter buildings without search warrants, were generally agreed. But the most troublesome were measures which could in theory make it possible for a suspect who failed to cooperate with the Garda - by providing an intimate sample, or standing in line in an identity parade - to be jailed for whatever term was appropriate to the crime being investigated.
It is understood that there were concerns within the group that some of these measures would prove unconstitutional, and a lawyer with expertise in the field was asked to comment on them to reassure the members that they were constitutionally feasible.
It is not clear whether the SMI group members expect the next Government to adopt their whole report. According to one observer, some of its measures are so severe, and likely to raise concerns about civil liberties, that they are unlikely to find their way into any new Government's legislative proposals. Even if they did, they would probably face strong opposition in the Oireachtas. The SMI members promoting the legislative changes may have considered it best to produce the strongest possible recommendations, aware that they could be watered down later.
However, one of the concerns expressed within the SMI group is that measures considered severe during normal times may prove attractive to ministers or officials "casting around for ideas" at the height of a crime crisis. This phenomenon was most marked after the Guerin murder; a series of proposals to tackle the State's "drug barons", which had previously been resisted or received little attention in Government circles, were suddenly thrust into the centre of Government crime policy.
The aspect of the SMI report which will probably most concern the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, is that the thorough reform of the Garda which he appeared to promise after Veronica Guerin's death is still some way off. The SMI members have concluded, reasonably, that it is too major a task to complete within the time set by Government. The members of the SMI group are Mr Tony Barry (chairman), the Garda Commissioner, Mr Pat Byrne, the chief legal officer of the Criminal Assets Bureau, Mr Barty Galvin, Ms Catherine Treacey, registrar at the Land Registry, Mr Kevin Duffy of ICTU, Mr Tim Dalton, Secretary of the Department of Justice, Mr Jim McCaffrey, assistant secretary at the Department of Finance, Mr Dermot Nally, former secretary to the Government and Mr John Timoney, former Deputy Commissioner at the New York Police Department.