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THE GARDA COMMISSIONER should not be exempt from investigations carried out by GSOC, the Oireachtas Justice Committee has heard.
Simon O’Brien, Chair of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, told the committee that the organisation needed greater powers, including the right to investigate the commissioner if necessary.
He said that is was “questionable” that members of the force were allowed to investigate complaints within an Garda Síochána, saying this should be done by an independent body.
If the process continued, however, he noted that all investigative reports should be sent to GSOC so it can decide if any further action is necessary.
O’Brien said that the objectives of GSOC should be “fundamentally reset” so the body can “actively seek resolutions to issues and provide feedback to gardaí to bring about change”.
He added that the role of the Garda Confidential Recipient should fall under GSOC’s remit.
Mark Kelly, Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, agreed that GSOC needs to be given greater power.
You cannot have a situation where the Garda Commissioner … decides what is or isn’t to be looked at by an independent body.
He noted that the ICCL’s reaction to the fact the Garda inquiry announced yesterday would be carried out the Garda Inspectorate was one of “astonishment”, saying it would “not constitute a robust and independent inquiry”.
John Devitt, Chief Executive of Transparency International Ireland, welcomed the announcement that an independent review of the Department of Justice would be carried out in light of the Guerin Report.
He said this would help in placing “placing some distance bet the gardaí and the Department of Justice”.
Devitt said that whistleblowers should be able to speak up “without fear of disciplinary action”.
Fiona Crowley, Research and Legal Manager at Amnesty International Ireland, said it is “of critical importance” that members of the force can highlight issues of wrongdoing without fear of discrimination.
She added that members of the force ”must feel that human rights-based, accountable policing in their interests too”.
Kelly added: “Human rights have not been placed at the core of policing in Ireland … now that needs to happen.”
Brigid Quilligan, Director of the Irish Traveller Movement, said that members of the Travelling Community are often the victims of racial profiling from members of an Garda Síochána.
She noted that gardaí tend to “see us as criminals and never as victims”, particularly in the case of young Traveller men.
Quilligan added that the slow response time to incidents raised by travellers on halting sites was unacceptable.
She said that when Travellers do need to visit a garda station to report a crime there is often a “lack of eye contact”, noting that some gardaí behave in an “unfriendly manner” and make innocent people feel like criminals.
Quilligan said that trust in the force is generally lower within the Travelling Community than the general public.
She added that trust in an Garda Síochána is “vital for every member of society, regardless of ethnicity”.
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If you dont like facebook, don’t use it.
Tony add me man!
Easier said than done, Tony.
Facebook… The CIA database for normal people.
Ya know, just in case you step out line..
Go back to sleep everyone. Everything is under control.
Read Facebook and eat crap and then get up for work. Again.
Regardless of Facebook’s policies, people should never forget it’s the internet. Don’t put up any content you would be embarrassed about if the whole world saw it.
They can add as much privacy rules as they like but considering the complexity of these rules it is very likely they’ll at least be flawed in some way, whether they’re misunderstood or have defects.
My problem with Facebook is that there are a lot of very nasty racist groups posting their hateful garbage on it, and to make matters worse they can turn off comments from anyone who disagrees with them so that it appears they have universal support
So do you think groups with distasteful opinions should be silenced, or that their views should be open to challenge and debate? If the former, I disagree, forcing opinions underground doesn’t make them go away; and if the latter, maybe, but would it really make much difference to anyone if you were to challenge the well researched opinions of Jimmy Joe Bob from Southern Alabama? Communication between like minded people has never been as easy as it is today thanks to the internet, yet racism has probably never been less prevalent in society. I’m not sure these things really pose as great a threat as is sometimes made out.
Totally disagree; ignorant, distasteful groups should be allowed to voice their ignorance as much as moderate opinion. Free speech is free speech; at least if everything is all out in the open these distasteful groups can be called on their ignorance.
@ Egg Head
Thank you for your well thought out and reasoned response.
I’m sorry, I did not make myself clear, no I don’t think they should be silenced,but I wonder if it’s a good idea that they should go unchallenged. A lot of impressionable young people read this tripe.
That comes down to parental responsibility, Pius. The Internet is fine as long as you’re able to differentiate between fact and opinionated BS. This knowledge should be imparted to the kids as well. They aren’t stupid; they learn quick enough that you shouldn’t believe everything you hear in the schoolyard or in the street. If they’re properly informed as to the reality that the Internet is largely the same then there’ll be no issue.
Obviously, there are exceptions to this, take the young ones on route to ISIS for example but largely it comes down to parental responsibility in my opinion. If you take the time to explain the reality to the kids there shouldn’t be too many problems.
What’s not to like?
If it was over here the guards would be called and your personal rights ignored, you’d be forced to be a Facebook member and if you complained you would go to jail.your fellow citizens would think this was fine and applaud the judiciary.
people will undoubtedly vent their anger… on Facebook- jesus wept :D
Hello!
Deleted my Facebook a month ago. Best thing I ever did. I don’t ever want to know that you are “going to bed now night peeps” makes me want to scream!
On Facebook you can report false/troll accounts and they do investigate & close the accounts.
Unlike twitter.
You can report twitter accounts ya mad yolk.
If you don’t like Facebook’s policies… DUH don’t use it… These privacy cranks are something else…..
Facebook is only usually used to point out flaws ect because it’s popular, the real truth is that any online account, profile, subject data or whatever is open for abuse as unfortunatly thats what people do, they take the good and turn it bad.
Facebook, although I don’t like it myself is/would be a great tool for social media but even at it’s best I’ve found it to be mainly “Maltesers and a hot chocolate for me to night” followed by loads of “likes” and me too’s (yes I have an account, just don’t use it)
The internet is probably the greatest thing from the twentieth century with the power of knowledge and good, yet probably 90% of it is now misinformation, information gathering & marketing and hatred.
Faceache
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