Madam, - On September 25th the Garda Ombudsman Commission dramatically intervened in the proceedings of the inquest into the deaths of two post office raiders shot dead by gardaí in Lusk, Co Dublin, in May 2005.
Conor Brady, one of the commissioners, revealed that the commission had received a complaint in relation to the death of Eric Hopkins, who was unarmed during the attempted robbery.
The application to adjourn the inquest was rejected on October 1st by the Dublin City Coroner, Brian Farrell, on the grounds that the findings of the inquest would not preclude further investigation of the matter, either by the ombudsman commission or by the Garda Síochána itself. Beyond this, he was scathing about the commission's tardiness in making such a request. The commission had admitted that the complaint reached it on August 31st, but it did not contact the coroner until September 24th. Mr Farrell said: "I would have thought a complaint of 'unlawful use of lethal force' would have been a complaint which would have attracted the highest priority".
So why didn't it? The complaint had apparently sat with a case officer, who decides on admissibility, for three weeks before being sent to a senior investigator, who held it for three days before informing the commissioners of its existence. I suggest that the resource limitations of the Commission are beginning to take effect.
In the first four months of operation, the Garda Ombudsman Commission received 1,136 complaints, a figure equivalent to the annual workload of its predecessor. Certainly this is a dramatic increase, but it is in line with the 4,000-5,000 annual complaints which the commission predicted in its 2006 report. The increase can, most likely, be put down to greater confidence in, and awareness of, the system of complaints.
The commission clearly stated in its annual report that it had sought a staffing level of 102 but that there was agreement for only 81. While this is still a vast improvement on the 18.5 staff members which the Garda Síochána Complaints Board had, if the commission feels that 102 people are required then they should be given those resources. Nuala O'Loan, the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, has said time and again that high staffing levels and an appropriate budget are fundamental to the success of her office.
It is worth noting that that office, which deals with just over 3,000 complaints annually, has a staff of 140 and a budget of just over £8.5 million. The estimated annual budget of the Garda Ombudsman Commission, for a larger state which will handle more complaints, is €10 million.
The objectives of the commission, as laid down in the Garda Síochána Act 2005, are "to ensure that its functions are performed in an efficient and effective manner and with full fairness to all persons involved in complaints and investigations", as well as "to promote public confidence in the process for resolving those complaints".
The inability of the commission efficiently to process a complaint concerning the death of a citizen is not going to inspire public confidence. If Ireland is to have an effective system of handling complaints from the public, the Government needs to resource the office properly. As it is, the Garda itself will continue to investigate less serious complaints and the commission has warned in its annual report that if the staffing issue is not addressed it will be unable to conduct the investigation with which it is charged. So, little will have changed from the system under the Garda Complaints Board, when the police investigated the police. All the money which has gone into developing and establishing the new system will have been wasted.
An effective complaints system is just one element of a solid architecture of police accountability, but it is perhaps the most visible one, and certainly of particular importance in terms of public confidence. It would be most regrettable if the Government did not seize this opportunity, when the will and determination to reform the Garda is so strong. - Yours, etc,
VICKY CONWAY, Junior Lecturer of Law, University of Limerick.