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TIME LIMITS WERE met in only 23 GSOC complaints that gardaí were assigned and completed in 2022.
Ireland’s policing watchdog hands over a significant amount of its investigations into alleged Garda misconduct to gardaí to investigate.
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) is the independent body that handles complaints relating to police misconduct. Complaints are mostly brought by members of the public and are either criminal or disciplinary.
Noteworthy asked GSOC how many of last year’s cases should have been completed by the end of the year. A spokesperson said that GSOC’s case management system couldn’t automatically process this information but that it was aware of the gap and was working to fix it.
From 2022 complaints received and closed last year, Noteworthy found that just 30% were completed on time. This figure could be significantly lower as 410 of the 485 investigations assigned to gardaí were carried over to 2023.
The practice of gardaí investigating gardaí was brought in to prevent GSOC from becoming “snowed under” by “less serious” complaints. It has been widely criticised by policing experts, including by the UN.
GSOC previously stated it does not believe the practice “is conducive to the promotion of public confidence” and proposed it be discontinued.
“Such investigations are conducted by trained Garda investigators who are well aware of the importance of such investigations being conducted professionally,” a garda spokesperson said, adding that the gardaí have “a process in place to escalate any delays in such investigations”.
An Garda Síochána, gardaí of all ranks, Irish civil rights organisations, politicians and GSOC themselves have been critical of the slow pace of GSOC investigations. These figures show that there are delays in cases which gardaí themselves lead.
When we put this to the gardaí, a spokesperson said that “despite a variety of competing demands, An Garda Síochána strives to complete such investigations expeditiously”.
GSOC did not respond to this query in time for publication but it previously said that “timeliness has been a constant issue” for garda-led investigations.
GSOC assesses complaints and determines the type of investigation required. Disciplinary cases to be investigated by the gardaí are sent to the Garda Commissioner who assigns it to an inspector or superintendent.
These garda investigations are either supervised by GSOC staff or unsupervised, without GSOC oversight.
We asked for the number of complaints both received and investigated by gardaí in 2022 within the agreed timeframes.
Just 13 unsupervised and 10 supervised cases received in 2022 were completed on time last year, according to data released to Noteworthy under Freedom of Information (FOI).
Unsupervised investigations should be completed within 16 weeks and supervised within 20 weeks of a Garda Investigating Officer being appointed. These timeframes may be extended with the agreement of GSOC on the provision of an interim report.
The gardaí did complete 608 GSOC cases in 2022 but almost 90% of them related to complaints received in previous years.
GSOC also measures the median time it takes to close cases. Noteworthy analysed this over the past decade. Annual statistics show median length of garda-led investigations have never been near the agreed timeframes.
This was an average of 38 weeks for unsupervised and 42 for unsupervised over the past decade.
Timelines for garda-led investigations are not statutory but were agreed between GSOC and An Garda Síochána as part of the memorandum they signed in 2013. GSOC-led cases do not have a time limit.
Through FOI, Noteworthy also asked the gardaí for the amount of resources needed to investigate GSOC cases but this request was refused.
“The records sought are not held centrally,” the garda response stated.
When contacted for comment, the gardaí also declined to give Noteworthy details of the GSOC caseload for inspectors or comment on the resources such cases take.
GSOC told Noteworthy that “in July 2021, as a result of a dispute over pay and allowances, some senior Garda officers withdrew from work they consider outside their core duties”. These included GSOC investigations.
When notified about this dispute, GSOC wrote “escalation letters [regarding a number of cases] to senior management in the guards saying the timelines have not been met”, said one of the body’s commissioners, Hugh Hume, in the Oireachtas last year.
The gardaí told GSOC this work resumed in February 2022 and “measures were put in place to alleviate any backlog resulting from the dispute”.
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How is GSOC dealing with the public’s complaints?
Part two finds GSOC is handing half of its cases back to gardaí to investigate
Have a listen to The Explainer x Noteworthy podcast on our findings
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Investigative Reporter: Alice Chambers • Editor: Maria Delaney
This investigation was part-funded by you, our readers. The remainder was funded through support from the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL). The investigation was fully editorially independent as outlined in our Fairness Policy.
What’s next? We also want to examine whether the coroner process of investigating tragic deaths is failing families. Support our work here.
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Suppose that’s what happens when you investigation yourselves!!
GSOC made a balls of the first few big investigations they got. They tried to be belligerent and bullish with The Guards without really knowing what they were doing themselves. This caused a huge rift early on in their establishment and there was no going back from it.
Well now they can’t have it everyway.
Handing back heaps of investigations to Gardaí to investigate who should be doing their own work, all because GSOC are underresourced, and then criticise when the Gardaí fail to complete in time.
Is there any evidence that the delay in completing the investigations by Gardaí had any affect in the quality or outcome of those investigations?
If not , then either let the Gardaí continue or let GSOC take all of them back in future if they want them completed sooner
No surprise, Garda are bogey as they come. No chance they will cooperate with anyone outside their protected club. Any word on the food delivery driver business?
I’m stunned I tell ya, stunned! I thought the Gardai operated like a well-oil machine machine, immediately clamping down on the first sign of corruption or misbehaviour.
Does the understaffing of An Garda Siochana have anything to do with not being able to investigate these cases in a timely manner? All of the vital frontline services are in absolute dire straits where staffing is the issue. Our fire service nationally is crippled, young staff are resigning from the ambulance service, nursing in hospitals is so long struggling for staff, the prison service is struggling for staff and our defence forces have been cut to the bone. It is a wonder that the staff left on the ground in these organisations are able to continue at all. The pressure on each and every one of us in these roles has increased massively. Stress is through the roof. It needs to be addressed at government level to fix our public services.
@Willie Bermingham: if you’re dad is who i think he is … what an absolute hero….totally agree with you willie ….the main security,, defence and emergency organisation are on their knees at the moment and its the people like you and me that stayed are being ridiculed for the failings of senior manager and government….i was luck enough to have been able to retire earlier this year after nearly 35 year’s between 2 state organisation one green and one blue …and im under 60 but many begrudge the fact i got a pension… but yet they will not join any of the service
I find this all very interesting. When anything bordering on criticism of the Gardai arises, the silence is deafening. When it comes to working conditions/ rosters/ criticism of senior Garda managements attempts to introduce reform, etc etc, the comments/ likes go through the roof and in many cases are reduced to personal attacks, despite the desperate need for reform, or more accurately, to learn from mistakes of the past, i.e. Maurice McCabe/ Kerry babies. GSOC and the Gardai have always been in conflict. Gardai even taking them to court and refusing to hand over files. GSOC are basically there to provide a safer working environment by getting rid of those who might be compromising the safety and work conditions of the majority of good Gardai. Garda ‘unions’ are aware of the ‘ fault lines’ and yet still look for conflict with management rather then seek solutions. So much for protecting democracy!
Ah sure sack them all and make the problem with Garda numbers even worse . If this is what people want it will only make things worse for the public..
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