2024 Policing Reforms

Background and Purpose

The  Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 Act is a key  part of the Government’s policing reform plan – A Policing Service for Our Future (APSFF) – developed to implement the recommendations of the 2018 Report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland (CoFPI) and fulfils a commitment in the Programme for Government: Our Shared Future. It provides a new framework for policing and community safety aimed at improving the performance and accountability of our police service to the benefit of the safety of communities, and new national security arrangements. When enacted it will repeal the Garda Síochána Act 2005 in its entirety (the “Act of 2005”).

The main purposes of the 2024 Act, based on the recommendations of CoFPI, are to:

• recognise the prevention of harm to individuals, particularly those who are vulnerable or at risk, as an explicit objective of An Garda Síochána;
• provide a new coherent governance and oversight framework for policing that will strengthen both the internal management of An Garda Síochána and independent external oversight supporting clear and effective accountability;
• make community safety a whole of government responsibility by:
• providing a new framework at national and local level to improve community safety including through the establishment of Local Community Safety Partnerships, and
• placing an obligation on Departments of State and other public service bodies to cooperate with each other in relation to improving community safety;
• provide for the establishment of the office of the Independent Examiner of Security Legislation to strengthen national security arrangements;
• repeal the Act of 2005.

In addition to CoFPI, the 2024 Act draws on other reports including the reports of the Effectiveness and Renewal Group in relation to the Department of Justice, the reports of the Disclosures Tribunal, and reports of the Policing Authority and the Garda Síochána Inspectorate. The opportunity has also been taken to review provisions of the Act of 2005 not substantially affected by the CoFPI-based reforms and to address any issues in their operation and to modernise them where they are being restated.

The 2024 Act sets out the main purpose of the provision of policing services in the State and the principles that will underpin their provision. It restates subject to certain amendments the meaning attributed to “policing principles” in section 3B of the Act of 2005. The amendments include a strengthening of the references to human rights.

New governance and oversight framework

A key driver of the new coherent governance and oversight framework is the CoFPI finding that the existing framework, which developed in a piecemeal reactive manner, is confused and lacks clarity as to where responsibility lies, and notwithstanding the good work of all involved, acts to the detriment of clear and effective accountability for policing. CoFPI also found that there is a lack of distinction between the roles of some of the oversight bodies and the responsibility of An Garda Síochána itself for its own governance and concluded that this conflation of governance and oversight is problematic and counterproductive as it prevents

An Garda Síochána from taking ownership of its future direction and driving reform and also undermines the independence of external oversight. The proposals in the 2024 Act are designed to address this by clearly delineating between the governance of An Garda Síochána, independent external oversight and the role of the Minister/Government.

Under the provisions of the 2024 Act the governance of An Garda Síochána will be strengthened through empowering the Garda Commissioner, as a “true CEO”, to lead the organisation and drive reform. The additional functions of the Commissioner will, similar to the CEOs of other public sector bodies, relate to workforce planning, human resources, industrial relations, and finance. The Commissioner will be supported, and held to account for his or her performance, by a non-executive board, a corporate governance standard in the public and private sector.

The Board of An Garda Síochána will be accountable to the Minister for its performance. The Board, as recognised by the Effectiveness and Renewal Group in relation to the Department of Justice, has the advantage of providing a more appropriate framework of governance between the Minister’s Department and An Garda Síochána (Second Report, 30 September 2018). It will facilitate the Minister’s Department in pulling back from involvement in day-to- day management of An Garda Síochána while also providing objective assurance to the Minister in relation to governance standards within An Garda Síochána.

The Commissioner will continue to be required to keep the Minister and the Secretary General of the Department of Justice informed of significant matters and to account to the Minister and Government for policing and security matters reflecting the Minister and the Government’s overall responsibility for public safety and the security of the State and their accountability to the Houses of the Oireacthas. In tandem with this new governance and oversight framework the Commissioner’s operational independence is made explicit for the first time.

Policing and Community Safety Authority

Independent external oversight will be strengthened through the new Policing and Community Safety Authority and the reorganised Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.

The Policing and Community Safety Authority will merge the broad- ranging oversight functions of the existing Policing Authority and the inspection functions of the Garda Síochána Inspectorate superseding both bodies and reducing the number of oversight bodies by one. It will oversee and assess in an independent and transparent manner the performance of An Garda Síochána in relation to policing services but with the benefit of an in- house empowered inspection function.

Unlike the Policing Authority, it will not have statutory responsibility for executive functions. These functions will transfer to An Garda Síochána under the guidance of the Board or to the Minister as appropriate with the new Authority having a consultative role. The new Authority will (as is the case with the Policing Authority) be required to hold meetings in public with the Garda Commissioner and the senior leadership team.

Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission

The three-person Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission will be replaced with an Ombudsman/Deputy Ombudsman model so that it will have a clear and publicly identifiable head. It will also become a vote-holding body to reinforce its independence. It will have an expanded remit both in terms of garda personnel and the range of allegations of wrongdoing which come within its jurisdiction to investigate.

The system for the handling and investigation of allegations of wrongdoing recognised by CoFPI and the Ombudsman Commission itself as requiring an overhaul, will also be streamlined to support timely, more transparent and effective resolution of complaints and investigations in accordance with fair procedures. This will be to the benefit of complainants, An Garda Síochána and the wider public.

Community Safety

:s noted above the prevention of harm particularly to individuals who are vulnerable or at risk is included as a specific objective of An Garda Síochána in recognition that much of the work that An Garda Síochána does on a daily basis (as is the case with other police services) is concerned with the non-crime related activity of assisting people with mental health and addiction challenges, people who are homeless, children, the elderly and others at risk.

A key principle arising from CoFPI is that policing in this broader sense is not the responsibility of An Garda Síochána and the Minister’s Department alone, rather it is a shared responsibility involving other Departments of State and agencies and the wider community working together. The national and local framework provided for in the 2024 Act aimed at driving safer communities has been designed having regard to the Working Group on Community Safety (a subgroup of the Implementation Group on Policing Reform overseeing APSFF) and further policy development work undertaken by the Minister’s Department to give effect to this key principle.

Security

The establishment of the office of the Independent Examiner of Security Legislation presents a significant development in enhancing the national security infrastructure, providing an independent review of security legislation to ensure that it is effective and contains sufficient safeguards for the protection of human rights, the operation of such legislation and the examination of the delivery of security services. The powers of the Independent Examiner will extend to State offices and agencies who utilise the relevant security legislation and/or have a security remit.

The totality of the changes contained in the 2024 Act – the new governance and oversight framework for An Garda Síochána, the complementary strengthening of the wider national security area through the establishment of the Independent Examiner of Security Legislation, and the national and local structures proposed to drive inter-agency cooperation and community engagement to ensure that people are safe and feel safe in their communities – will see the policing and security landscape transformed.

The framework contained in the 2024 Act is designed to be consistent with the constitutional requirement that the Government retains ultimate control in relation to matters of fundamental importance to the exercise of executive powers in these matters while allowing delegation of appropriate policing matters.

The 2024 Act defines “security services” (other than for Part 7) which will identify the functions of An Garda Síochána that will not come within the remit of the Policing and Community Safety Authority. Provision is made for the Minister to make a final determination where a question or dispute arises as to whether a matter relates to policing or security services. It restates section 3A of the Act of 2005 subject to some amendments including the addition to the definition of security services of services provided by An Garda Síochána for the purposes of protecting the State from “acts contrary to the economic well-being of the State where such acts have an impact on national security interests.”