Fennelly recommendations ‘to be included’ in Garda reform

The final report of the Fennelly commission is being examined by the Attorney General before publication, according to Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

He said in the Dáil that he had received the 740-page report last weekend.

The Fennelly commission investigated the recording of telephone calls at Garda stations and the resignation of former Garda commissioner Martin Callinan. Mr Kenny said its executive summary runs to 85 pages.

“That deals with the history of telephone recording systems, the level of knowledge of gardaí, whether this was authorised by law or not.

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“Following the process I am statutorily bound to give that report to the Attorney General, which I have done.”

He said the State’s legal officer Máire Whelan was “now examining that with her personnel”.

“I expect to publish that report as soon as she informs me that I can publish it,” he said.

He added that “whatever the implications – and the Minister for Justice has not seen this – [they] will have to be included in the recommendations that she makes for the future of policing structures in An Garda Síochána”.

Mr Kenny gave the information during Leaders’ Questions.

‘Afraid of contagion’

Sinn Féin deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald claimed the Government was afraid to remove Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan from her position because it was “afraid of contagion” and Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin was afraid of a general election.

Ms McDonald made the allegations as she told the Taoiseach: “You are in charge and this corruption, malpractice and mismanagement in An Garda Síochána is happening on your watch.”

The Dublin Central TD said immense damage had been done to the gardaí.

“People wonder how somebody who has messed up so badly, has presided over fiasco after fiasco, is still in her job.

“How can ordinary rank-and-file gardaí be expected to account for their actions when their boss, the top garda in the country, is immune from that basic standard of accountability.”

She claimed Ms O’Sullivan had been given this immunity “by the Government’s refusal to act decisively and Fianna Fáil’s refusal to come off the fence”.

“No review, no matter how robust or comprehensive, will be successful in addressing the dysfunctionality at the heart of the Garda Síochána while Nóirín O’Sullivan remains in office,” she said.

‘Journey of work’

Ms McDonald said: “She is no new kid on the block. She has been commissioner for three years and deputy commissioner before that.”

“It is unbelievable that the Minister for Justice accepts the commissioner’s line that she must remain in her job to complete her ‘journey of work’ as she describes it,” she added.

She asked: “Does this journey also include her speculating out loud as though she was some detached onlooker that the controversy around breath tests and motoring offences may not be the end of scandals surrounding An Garda?”

Mr Kenny told her: “You focus on one person only. It’s much bigger than this.”

He said the reforms in train and the modernisation programme and the Garda Inspectorate’s report included 73 recommendations that would be implemented.

“The Government treats this with the utmost seriousness.”

He said Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald had briefed the Cabinet on proposals for the future of policing in the State.

He said the issues of fixed-notice penalties and breathalyser statistics, “both of those have been referred to the Policing Authority, which has full right to contract in any expertise, national or international, to determine how these issues happened and who is accountable and responsible”.

He added that the Minister would engage with the Opposition spokespeople about a review of the management and structures of all the functions of the gardaí, their culture and the ethos of policing, their training, the structure and legislative base for oversight and accountability.