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Current developments in police governance and accountability in Ireland

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Abstract

2005 saw the passing of landmark legislation for policing in Ireland—the Garda Síochána Act—which made substantial changes to the structures and operation of governance and accountability. It came on the heels of the greatest scandal ever faced by the Irish police. This paper sets out to assess critically the impact of that legislation. We begin by considering the nature of police reform and the various conditions necessary for successful change. We then contextualise the reforms in Ireland, considering the existing structures of governance and accountability and highlighting the numerous concerns which existed in relation to them. The focus then turns to the Morris Tribunal, which documented gross misconduct and corruption in one Garda division. We examine how this served as a major catalyst for reform in Ireland. The paper then turns to consider the reforms themselves providing an overview of the legislation and critiquing in depth a number of features: the clear centralisation of government control over the police, the limited independence of the new independent police complaints body and the failure to fully embed the reforms in a human rights agenda. We conclude by arguing that insufficient steps have been taken to address police governance and accountability in Ireland and that the best opportunity for such reform may have been missed.

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Notes

  1. Stoddard [45; p.201] has defined the bad apples thesis as premised on the belief “that unlawful activity by police is a manifestation of personal moral weakness, a symptom of personality defects, or a result of recruitment of individuals unqualified for police work”. Newburn [36] has noted how it is invariably relied upon where a scandal has occurred but that the evidence, in most cases, proves otherwise. In New York the Knapp Commission dismissed claims by senior New York police management that the corruption in that instance was down to a few bad apples. Knapp declared that this position, which was borderline ‘official doctrine’, was an ‘obstacle to meaningful reform’.

  2. In this article we focus on the reform implemented by the government. For a discussion of the reform implemented internal to the police see Fitzgerald [13], Conway [10] and Walsh [51].

  3. According to Lowe [24] in 1920/21 there were over 10,000 attacks on the RIC with 355 officers killed in that period.

  4. Meaning Guardians of the Peace. A member singular is called a garda and the plural is gardaí. The force was formally created by the Police Force Amalgamation Act 1925 which amalgamated the DMP, which had continued to exist until this time, and the Civic Guard / Garda Síochána, which had been created in 1922 to replace the RIC. For a history of the force see Allen [1], McNiff [28], Brady [4] and Breathnach [5].

  5. This was quite a deliberate decision as many of those involved in deciding on the new force believed that until the national unrest, the force had operated well in the country. Further, the Police Organisation Committee was given just three weeks to plan for the new force making it difficult to deviate substantially, see Allen [1].

  6. The need to make the force accountable is apparent in many speeches by the first Minister for Justice, Kevin O’Higgins, however, as the government was tasked at that point with building the full institutions, structures and laws for the State, this was not an issue perceived as taking priority.

  7. S.18 of the Police Forces Amalgamation Act allowed for the Commissioner to establish an inquiry to investigate ‘any charge or complaint of neglect or violation of duty’.

  8. The Civic Guard as established in 1922 had in fact been an armed force but following a mutiny of recruits in Kildare Barracks an inquiry was held and recommended that the force be unarmed. See Allen [1]. Members of the Special Branch continue to be armed.

  9. Indeed, officers of the RIC were often referred to ‘the Castle’s men’, in reference to Dublin Castle, where the British administration in Ireland was based.

  10. Breathnach [5] discusses allegations of abuse of detainees by Special Branch men and how at times in the 1930s they were not welcome in certain parts of the country.

  11. The Conroy Commission introduced over-time payments for the first time, introduced a 42 hour working week, deemed some stations as ‘not fit to live in’, as well as recommendations on recruitment, training, accommodation and discipline. The changes brought about in the wake of Conroy have been described by McNiff [28] as ‘herald[ing] a new era’.

  12. In the late 1960s nearly 1000 officers participated in go-slow protests, and gathered in the Macushla Ballroom, attending a meeting which had been banned by the Commissioner, to express their dissatisfaction at pay and working conditions. It culminated in the dismissal of 11 leaders who were only reinstated after the intervention of the Arch-Bishop of Dublin.

  13. As one Minister for Justice stated: “There is nothing between us and the dark night of terrorism but that Force. While people in this House and people in the media may have freedom to criticise, the Government of the day should not criticise the Garda Síochána” (Noonan, Dáil Eireann, 10 November 1987).

  14. The existence of the gang has always been denied by Garda management and the Department of Justice, but was exposed by the Irish Times in February 1977 who documented accounts of prisoners who had been subjected to torturous interrogation techniques. “Gardaí using North-style brutality in Interrogation Techniques” (14 February 1977), “Beaten by Six Guards” (14 February 1977), “Heavy Gang used New Act to Intensify Pressure on Suspects” (15 February 1977), “Claustrophobia Victim says Gardaí Shut Him in Locker” (16 February, 1977).

  15. Irish Times, 16 December 1989.

  16. See the cases of Peter Pringle, Damien, Marsh, Vincent Connell, Fred Flannery, Dean Lyons, Nora Wall, Frank Shortt, and, perhaps most contentiously, Paul Ward who had been convicted in relation to the murder of journalist of Veronica Guerin.

  17. See for instance T. Brady, ‘Hoax bomb among claims against Gardaí in probe’ The Independent, 16 April 1999, Deputy Jim Higgins, Dáil Éireann, 05 May 1999, Vol. 504 Col. 156; Higgins, 12 October 1999, Vol. 509, Col. 24; O’Shea, 12 October 1999, Vol. 509, Col. 153; Stagg, 23 November 1999, Vol 511, Col. 579; Higgins, 16 December 1999, Vol. 512, Col. 1973.

  18. Jim Higgins, Dáil Éireann 07 March 2000, Vol. 515 Col. 1326

  19. Deputies Shatter and Howlin 20 November 2001, Vol. 544 Col. 581

  20. Dáil Éireann, 28 March 2002,Vol. 551, Col. 926

  21. S.7 of the Act identifies clearly the functions of the force which are to preserve peace and public order, to protect life and property, to vindicate the human rights of individuals, protect the security of the State, to prevent crime, bringing criminals to justice and ensuring road safety.

  22. This figures are combined from the Annual Reports published in 2008 [18] and 2009 [19] as well as caseload data published on the GSOC website available at http://www.gardaombudsman.ie/gsoc-garda-ombudsman-CaseThroughput-March2010.htm

  23. As above.

  24. Govell v. UK [1998] EHRLR 101; Khan v. UK [2000] 31 EHRR 1016.

  25. This re-emerged in the appointment of Dermot Gallagher, a senior civil servant, to the commission, following the death of its first chair, Mr Justice Kevin Haugh. See for instance Mark Kelly’s letter to The Irish Times, 12 February 2009.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK

    Vicky Conway

  2. University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, UK

    Dermot P. J. Walsh

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  1. Vicky Conway
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  2. Dermot P. J. Walsh
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Correspondence to Vicky Conway.

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Conway, V., Walsh, D.P.J. Current developments in police governance and accountability in Ireland. Crime Law Soc Change 55, 241–257 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-011-9271-z

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