KENNY WELCOMES START OF PROCESS FOR SETTING UP OF GARDA AUTHORITY

Posted on November 7, 2014 7:08 PM   |   Permanent Link   

Dublin Bay North Labour TD and member of the Oireachtas Justice Committee Sean Kenny has welcomed the news that the Cabinet have given the go-ahead to draft legislation for an independent policing authority.

"As a member of the Oireachtas Justice Committee, I am very pleased to see this finally going ahead. The setting up of an independent policing authority was one of the reforms recommended by the Justice Committee in the report that we made that reviewed the Garda Siochana Act 2005, and which we published last month."

"The new legislation will ensure an independent and transparent process of oversight and governance of policing in Ireland and this is the most far reaching reform of An Garda Síochána since the foundation of the State and is a major element of the comprehensive programme of justice reform which is being delivered by the Government. Garda reform on this scale was not on the government agenda at the start of this year. But in response to the various issues that arose during the year that concerned policing, Labour members of the Government and the members of the Justice Committee ensured that this important oversight body be established to restore confidence and improve transparency within An Garda Siochana."

"Some of the proposals for the new independent authority are that under the new oversight arrangements the Garda Commissioner will report to the Policing Authority in respect of policing matters and to the Minister for Justice in relation to security matters. The authority will have a chairperson and eight other members, who will be appointed by Government through the Public Appointments Service, and these appointments must further be given the go ahead by the Dáil and Seanad."

"The legislation will also enable Garda Security Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) to investigate any policing matter that gives rise to a concern that a member of the Garda Síochána may have committed an offence, or behaved in a manner that would justify disciplinary proceedings and it can request GSOC to investigate any behaviour of the Garda Commissioner in the context of his or her functions relating to policing matters, as well as examine practices or procedures of the Garda Síochána in relation to policing matters."
"This is going to be a very important legislation and I will be watching it carefully as it passes through the Dáil, and indeed the Justice Committee on its passage into law."