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THE CHAIRPERSON OF the Policing Authority has said that she has a “degree of confidence” in the ability of Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan to carry out her duties for the duration of the Charleton Tribunal.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, Josephine Feehily stressed that she has confidence in O’Sullivan’s ability to do her job now, but she questions whether this would be the case when the Tribunal was up and running.
Feehily said that it was vital that all voices get heard in the inquiry, and that it should move at a pace that should bring an end to a “saga” which is “potentially corrosive” to policing and to garda morale.
When asked if the Authority was concerned about the ability of senior management to fulfill their duties when the Tribunal gets underway, Feehily said: “Yes, of course we are”.
We asked the commissioner yesterday to assure us in that regard. She certainly gave us considerable assurance, but we will continue to ask that question.
I would say we have a degree of confidence, but we are concerned. I’m not saying that that’s a deep concern at this point. The tribunal hasn’t begun.
Feehily added that they had intended to flag that concern, and raised it in a public forum yesterday.
When asked what would happen if the events of the Tribunal “increased these concerns”, the Policing Authority chairperson said that they would “wait and see”.
Protected disclosures
She also said that the authority had found some deficiencies in the policy of An Garda Síochana on the issue of protected disclosures, which is when a worker discloses action they believe to be wrongdoing in the area they work in.
“We shared those back with the gardaí,” she said. “They accepted some of our recommendations. Some took a little bit of encouragement for them to accept and others have not been accepted just yet.”
Issues of contention between the Policing Authority and the gardaí in terms of protected disclosures came in the form of the motivation of protected disclosures and who was responsible for handling protected disclosures.
She said that the Policing Authority was keen to understand how An Garda Síochana is creating “an environment for speaking out”.
Brendan Howlin
Labour party leader Brendan Howlin gave his reaction to Feehily’s comments, saying that he welcomed her making a public statement on the matter.
“To hear the view of the chair of the [Policing] Authority on this critical matter is important,” he said.
Howlin said that it was a priority that elected representatives ensure that An Garda Síochana remains “effectively managed to the best of its ability”.
The Labour leader added that for the gardaí to be effectively modernised and run to the best standard, then O’Sullivan should step aside “without prejudice” while “retaining her good name” for the duration of the Charleton Tribunal.
Speaking yesterday at the public meeting of the Policing Authority, the first public questioning for O’Sullivan and her senior team since a tribunal was called into an alleged smearing campaign against garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe, O’Sullivan said that she was frustrated that “inaccuracies” in the public domain have not been openly corrected by management.
“A lot of inaccurate information goes into the public domain. We have to address whether we always balance it,” O’Sullivan said. She added that some of this information was “very personal – not just to me”.
There’s lots of frustration on behalf of some of our members – a lot of our members – in terms of the inaccuracies that are portrayed about the…Unfortunately, and I think [Assistant Commissioner] Eugene [Corcoran] touched off it earlier, unfortunately some of those inaccuracies we cannot correct at the moment and there needs to be an understanding of that from our own members.
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That’s nice. …….Join the queue behind fg and ff. They have full confidence..
No surprise that the Revenue’s enforcer of the Home tax (banker tax) Feehily would support another enforcer of the state, O’Sullivan. The well remunerated agents of the ruling class will never be found wanting when the wealthy and powerful need protecting.
@Dusty Mooney: I reckon you’re being somewhat unfair to Ms. Feehily there. When it comes to the Civil Service and related matters it’s just as important to take account of what is not said…..and she didn’t say she had full confidence in the GC.
Feehily is a political appointment as is O’Sullivan. The Commissioners position is untenable and Feehily is fully aware of this. The Policing Authority are marching to the orders of their political masters in FG and FF who want O’Sullivan to remain in her role despite the irrefutable evidence that she tried to destroy McCabe for daring to blow the whistle. The ruling class establishment has closed ranks to protect one of its own.
Is that you Wally?
@Dusty Mooney: She didn’t support her, but what she didn’t clarify was the context in which Noirin was lacking, i.e. was it that she wouldn’t have the time or was it conflict of interest? Callanan was sacked for less, much less -worse they are getting.
You don’t need a tribunal you tell you that you should have a deep concern of the goings on of The Garda in recent years.
I’ve blisters on my fingers from giving out about Noirin, FG would have cut her loose a long time ago except for the fact it would be the 2nd commissioner they’ve had to expunge under their watch, again it’s about their reputation (perceived of course) and whats good and right for the country.
OK, Callinan got removed which was a step in the right direction. FG went against cries for an outsider clean up the force but this fell on deaf ears. OK we said, maybe Noirin is different, maybe she will be the one to lead the Guards from the quagmire. nope.
She’s been as bad if not worse, as we’re finding out she was the one that made calls on the behest of Callinan as his no.2 then she sits there and tells us she knew nothing of it. Even with all the evidence in the public domain the reasonable man could assume either she knew and was complicate OR she didnt know making her inept…which do we want a corrupt commissioner or an inept one?
In my view she’s both, she should be stepped aside and an outside caretaker of the role installed.
A dreadful choice for commissioner, part of the old guard, if she had any integrity she would resign. Instead she clings on long after the public have lost all trust in her. An outsider is needed now, one who is not tainted by the old boys network at this level.
One degree is not enough Josephine but I suppose its more than the rank and file public have in Norin
She knows where all the bodies are buried , if anyone tries to push her out I’m sure she will take a few down with her .
I would like to know what Maurice McCabe views are on this ? The victim in all of this should be given an opportunity to respond.
And the FFG/ Lab propaganda cover up continues with toothless quango Policing Authority.
I wonder which of them appointed Charleton
So the commissioner and senior would not tell lies ,? or cover up any scandal and would protect and encourage whistle -blowers ? Ha ha right ,She is at the top either she knows about the scandals ,so she should be removed ,or it happened on her watch ,she is useless at her job ,She should be removed , .
Josephine Feelihy looks odd in that photo, which bloke is she?
She’s at the bottom kissing up
Well I have 1 degree of faith in the commissioner. The other 359 degrees are lost.
Just about sums up the Irish system!A degree of confidence will do!
Enda didn’t walk and he had to ‘mea culpa’ when caught in the act.
As far as I know Noirin hasn’t been caught doing anything.
The lead has been given by Enda to all public servants, just carry on and pretend nothing’s happened.
Noirin, tick….tock……tick………tock…….tick……..tock…………tick……
They admit that its a corrosive atmosphere, the majority of the country wouldn’ t trust her as far as they could throw her, yet she is still in the job. Joke!
Surely any political class that would conspire against someone like McCabe,is an evil political class? Why the hell are we sitting around about this ??
With such uncertainty they should already have a successor lined up, moreover given the crucial Brexit negotiations that also run in parallel to The Tribunal, and the extra heavy workload with the reform that needs to be ‘accelerated’ at An Garda Siochana. Bearing in mind Ireland’s peculiar set-up where the Commissioner is also the head of national security, her tenure is mindless as she would lack credibility in negotiations that will define our economic future with our biggest trading partner. National security is paramount and where the inevitability of a a hard border is looming. The policing aspect is vital where Customs issues are concerned and Feehily will know all about this as ex head of the Revenue Commissioners so her stopping short of expressing absolute confidence on a Friday evening, just after Howlin saying she should step aside, means they are giving her every chance. Otherwise Enda will assert his authority as I’d say he has had enough given all the trouble she has caused him -she is a national embarrassment at the worst possible point in our history. A refusal to tolerate nonsense is his trademark and one he will be remembered for, over and above his predecessors – he will be admired when the rest of the facts are known and it is inevitable that worse is to come – Feehily did express concern in this respect so I’d say someone will have a reflective weekend and hopefully Noirin will make the hard decision before ’tis made for her.
Is that a ranieri level of confidence ( gone in a week)
Jayus Feehily should resign along with o Sullivan after comment like that awful
Why didn’t FF and the Independents propping up the government insist on her stepping down, they had the perfect opportunity as otherwise the government would have fallen? A stupid decision on their part.
She should have been sacked..
Or for the purposes of brevity:
Bitches before snitches
Certainly the Commissioner should step aside as not doing so makes her look like a bully
The Indo is walking a tight rope here, losing readers while protecting Murdoch 2.0
And gosh but the Gombeens are running out of excises -
Copy and Paste = Copy and smear, Copy and disgrace.
MS Word document template ready for the enemy, just fill in the blanks!
Predictive texting is next line from them.
The name drops tell all, they have been sent in already by Wallace and Daly and will also be palatable to all in government. A grand coup for the left and a mission achieved for the gov, in that they can role out a polished performer when needed. A civilian will take top job, then the mandatory to fill the flanks with further top jobs at civilian level and before we know it you have people running policing without any experiencing with policing and for the few that ever attain higher ranks than Inspector <6% of workforce nothing to motivate or develop you further. This will be insignificant when that change occurs, small mistakes = major consequences.
It has worked very well in HSE as we can see. 10:1 ratio there and a pure money pit with well intentioned people designing procedure and policies for frontline staff without any knowledge bar superficial of how they work. When things go wrong polished performers sent to media. Triage introduced to a crumbling A&E one example assigning nurses to fill out forms the size of bibles, how comes no civilians posts taken on to do that, because they cannot do it not trained , you need a level of knowledge of nursing , but also they did no proper study done on the impact , wherever there is risk assign to frontline a further management tool.
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