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THERE WILL BE an “internal divide” in the Department of Justice next year but it will remain under one minster, according to Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
Under the plans, there will still be one minister for the department, but it will be internally split into two divisions – justice and home affairs – with separate deputy secretaries.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told reporters during a round-table briefing that the intention is to proceed with the reform in 2018.
It comes after a series of controversies in the Department of Justice which have led to the resignations of ministers and secretary generals, most recently the resignation of Frances Fitzgerald following controversy around the legal strategy used against Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe during the O’Higgins Commission.
Her resignation pulled the country back from the brink of a snap election in the run up to Christmas.
Following the revelations over the department’s failure to find and send on relevant documents and emails that should have gone to the Charleton Tribunal, there had been speculation that a major overhaul was on the cards.
The speculation was that the department would be split in two into clear Justice and Home Affairs portfolios, with two ministers.
Sinn Féin’s justice spokesperson Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire welcomed the changes announced by the Minister today, but said that recent controversies were proof that “the culture of secrecy, silos, and undue deference” remained in the Department.
He said that he believed that the decision to split the department was intended to deal with the efficiency of the Department and the enormous workload it has.
It is not a panacea and I do not believe it will deal with the key cultural issues in the Department.
Labour leader Brendan Howlin went further than that, branding the government’s response to reform at the Department of Justice as “farcical”.
“To retain one Minister and one Secretary General makes a nonsense of their being separate departments. This a ball of smoke – existing divisions already exist within the Justice Department. Nor is this even the model adopted by Paschal Donohoe in Public Expenditure and Reform, and Finance.”
He said that a “separate department” was needed with “separate political and administrative leadership”.
“Anything else is nonsense,” he added.
Toland report
The Toland report published in 2014 catalogued a list of failings and recommendations for the department.
The Taoiseach said he does have concerns about how the department operates given “all that has happened in the past couple of years”. Varadkar has met with the author of the report, Kevin Toland, in recent weeks to discuss the reforms.
What is proposed is not splitting up the department into two separate departments. What is proposed is an internal division so there would be one Secretary General of the department and two deputy Secretaries General of the two wings.
“It is our intention to proceed with that reform in 2018, having a new Secretary General, and two deputy Secretary Generals over the two new sections of the department,” clarified Varadkar.
The justice division would include crime, security and international policy, while home affairs would cover policing, prisons, courts and equality.
The Taoiseach acknowledged that it would be the norm in other countries, such as the UK, for Home Affairs and Justice to be separate.
However, Ireland’s Constitution presents a problem for this being done.
“We have the slight complication in Ireland that we have a Constitution which only allows us have 15 senior Cabinet ministers. So everytime you create a new government department you have to abolish one and I am not yet sure which department people would axe as they all do very important work,” he said.
Such a move would require a referendum, and the Taoiseach is of the belief that people would not vote in favour of it.
The Taoiseach said reform of the Department of Justice is ongoing.
“When you are reforming something, part of the process is people lifting up mats and looking under rugs and sometimes you see things you don’t want to see and you have to deal with them and we are going to deal with them,” he concluded.
Additional reporting by Christina Finn.
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I don’t blame them. I had problems getting and HB1ac last week due to the first strike. But I would not blame these guys. And don’t start the FF/FG nonsense. This is the HSE. And nothing BUT the HSE. Governments come and go. But the permanent government in the HSE is to blame for decades of bad management. No party can fix this alone. There needs to be a route and branch and heads need to roll. That will require cross party support and a stomach in the public. These fat cats won’t go quietly.
@Dave Connolly: and who appoints the top positions in HSE??
@Dave Connolly: Wrong Dave. The HSE can’t just decide who gets paid what. They are forced to negotiate with one hand behind their back as, although it doesn’t attend pay negotiations, the sanction of the Department of Finance is required before ANY public service pay deal can be signed off.
@Dave Connolly: finally someone talking sense !
Although it affected me today had a procedure done was to do bloods after so specialist gets results for appointment next weekt. But fully support them so back in again on friday for bloods .
Just do the right thing. The day is coming when you (the government) will need these people who work tirelessly for all of us.
Just pay them the money. The cost of all the strikes and faffing about will be more than the rise in the long run. It’s not like they haven’t been flagging this for 20yrs.
Completely agree. Their work is essential and having upgraded their qualifications it’s short-sighted not to offer them opportunities to improve their salary without changing jobs. They’re familiar with the health system and have put in the years. I can’t see any reason to stall any longer – it’s a reasonable request.
Well good for them. They deserve it and are one group who went above and beyond during the pandemic and never got a mention.
@Mary Conneely: Well said Mary fair play to ya!
Fight for your rights, otherwise you will be trampled upon.
The HSE is a dysfunctional organisation, riddled with Managers appointed through the Peter Principle and kept in their roles by clinging and enabling bullies. This strike should never have happened, preempted resolution was the obvious answer should it have been accepted but now the ordinary people suffer again through deferred appointments.
@Terry Larkin: But your bus driver does not control the spread of viruses, bacteria and fungi all over the world,not to mention antibiotic resistance which is another calamity heading your way!!
Wage disparity happens in all work places. But fairs fair. And they should be paid accordingly.
have your say