The Human Rights Commission (HRC) welcomes the changes made by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr. Michael McDowell, in the current Garda Bill 2004. The HRC made a detailed submission in November 2003 on the earlier Scheme of the Garda Bill recommending a number of substantive amendments and changes. "In broad terms the Bill is to be welcomed. It is clear that the submission of the HRC in respect of the Scheme of the Garda Bill has been carefully considered by the Minister and the published Bill largely reflects the recommendations of the HRC" stated the President of the Commission, Dr. Maurice Manning.
While welcoming the direction in which the Bill is moving, the HRC has made a further submission to the Minister with recommendations on how the Bill as drafted might be strengthened. The submission makes, amongst others, the following specific points:
• The presumption that all investigations, except the most minor, be conducted by the Ombudsman Commission should be strengthened. The HRC believes that "death or serious harm" is too narrow a category of complaint for mandatory investigation by the Ombudsman Commission. The investigation of complaints by the Garda Commissioner should be confined to limited circumstances relating to minor complaints and that there should be an explicit presumption that the Ombudsman Commission may refer a complaint to the Garda Commissioner only in cases where the Commission is of the view that the complaint does not appear to relate to the commission of an offence or serious misconduct.
– The provisions relating to restricting access of the Ombudsman Commission’s investigators to "designated stations’ seem unnecessarily restrictive. Under the European Convention on Human Rights, national security is recognised as a legitimate ground for restricting accountability and transparency. However, the HRC believes that the proposed system is unnecessary and disproportionate to meet this objective.
The HRC notes that the Ombudsman Commission investigating staff will be bound by the Official Secrets Act 1963, and that any warrant for search of a station will be restricted to material relevant to an instant complaint. The HRC also notes that at present international human rights bodies, such as the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture, have unrestricted freedom to enter police stations without prior notification. Furthermore, alternative measures could be put in place to meet the objective of protecting national security such as, for example, sealing any material which a senior member of the Garda Síochána claims to be related to matters of national security and providing for a procedure whereby the nature of such material would be assessed by a judge.
The HRC recommends that this section be reconsidered to ensure that nothing in the section could have the effect of restricting the general right of access by the Ombudsman Commission to garda stations on demand.
– In relation to time limits on making of complaints, the general period should be 12 months rather than 6 months. The HRC also recommends that allowance be made for the waiving of the time limit where the alleged improper conduct becomes known to the complainant only after the expiry of the time limit.
"In the view of the HRC, the publication of the Garda Bill, and in particular the establishment of the Garda Ombudsman Commission, marks an historic step towards placing human rights at the centre of Irish policing. We believe that this legislation has the potential to greatly strengthen the capacity of the Garda Síochána as a consensual police service aspiring to the highest international standards of human rights protection and promotion. However, the HRC believes that the introduction of the Garda Bill is only one part of a broader programme of police reform and we would emphasise that issues of police training, recruitment to the service and the political accountability of the Garda Síochána are matters that remain in need of urgent attention" said Dr. Maurice Manning.
In this context the HRC expresses concern that the Bill appears to increase the level of executive control exercised by the Minister for Justice. In particular, the HRC highlights the following:
• several sections of the proposed Bill grant broad discretionary powers to the Minister in relation to the operation of the Garda Síochána. For example, the Bill makes provision for the Minister to set priorities for the service and to make regulations for the Garda by the Minister; and section 23 of the Bill provides that the Garda Commissioner have regard to any relevant policies of the Minister or Government
• the Bill retains the existing system of political appointment of senior officers within the police service and now provides that appointments to the rank of superintendent also be political
Both of these proposals give rise to concerns about the independence of the service. It is the view of the HRC that the vesting of oversight and appointment functions with an independent and representative agency, such as a Police Authority as recommended by the Patten Report, could make a valuable contribution to the promotion of human rights within Irish policing.
A spokesperson from the Commission is available for comment.
For further information, please contact:
Mary Ruddy
Senior Human Rights Awareness Officer
Human Rights Commission
Tel. 01 8589 601 / 087 640 7765
E-mail: mruddy@ihrc.ie
Copies of all Human Rights Commission Submissions can be found on the Commission website: http://www.ihrc.ie
Observations on the Garda Bill 2004 can be found on the below link
http://www.ihrc.ie/documents/article.asp?NID=79&NCID=6&T=N&Print=