‘Whistleblowers are suffering because GSOC’s understaffed’

WHISTLEBLOWER disclosures are mounting up at the Garda Siochána Ombudsman Commission because the watchdog is understaffed and underfunded, the body’s chair said yesterday.

Speaking yesterday, Judge Mary Ellen Ring said that significant extra time, effort and staff are needed to fully investigate several claims about the force properly.

There are around 20 protected disclosures on the books of GSOC, Judge Ring told Radio 1’s This Week programme as she claimed staff are working ‘flat out’ due to lack of resources.

It was revealed in a confidential report from GSOC, which was seen by This Week, that the ombudsman had asked for twice the number of staff it was given to investigate allegations made by garda whistleblowers.

According to the report, GSOC wrote to the Department of Justice in November 2016, requesting extra staff to establish a new dedicated Protected Disclosures Unit. It stated in the report that it needed 12 extra staff, including a senior investigating officer, eight extra investigators and a head of unit at ‘principal officer’ grade. However, only five extra staff were appointed, with four of these being investigators.

Judge Ring said that the staff members who are ‘flat out, covering the country from north to south, are also dealing with other cases, and they have to give priority to these outside of their workload’.

‘There’s 24 hours in the day, much less in the working day, and there’s only so much time people can give,’ Judge Ring said, adding that none of the five new staff members have started working with the body.

She said GSOC received no extra allocation for transport and no additional analytical support for the new unit.

RTÉ reported that the Protected Disclosures Unit is currently operating on a part-time basis only, with just three staff members, none of whom are dedicated exclusively to working on protected disclosures from within the force.

Judge Ring claimed if there were more resources available, the body would receive more complaints. ‘We know again from talking to people that they have been reluctant to come to GSOC,’ she said. ‘They have come to GSOC out of a sense of frustration often. If there was a full team making it clear we are not dealing with anything else, we are giving priority, we may in fact find more people coming to GSOC.’

The chair also confirmed that GSOC has set out proposals to the Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan’s department for legislation that would make them an independent body, acting without his department’s input.

‘I think it’s time, after ten years, that GSOC is taken out of the Department of Justice and allowed to operate, subject to controls on its own,’ she said.

‘It’s been urgent in the sense of protected disclosures since 2014 and we have failed people who have come to us.

‘It is important now that we move forward to protect these people, to serve these people and in terms of our general remit, to stand away from the department and serve the community better.’

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy TD echoed her calls for extra resources to investigate allegations made by garda whistleblowers.

‘It is unconscionable that a request more than a year ago by the chairperson of GSOC for 12 extra staff for its dedicated Protected Disclosures Unit has gone largely unmet,’ she said.

‘How is this unit expected to operate only on a part-time basis with a total of three staff members? How can we expect gardaí to come forward with protected disclosures if they can’t have full confidence that they will be listened to and their reports handled appropriately?’

Contacted by the Mail for comment, the Department of Justice said in a statement that it ‘examined the GSOC request, sought sanction for a number of posts to get the new unit established and informed GSOC that it could revisit the issue when the unit had been operating for a time and in light of the workload. So far, GSOC has not provided any update on the operation of the unit.’ ’

‘GSOC has not provided update’

DESPITE the sterling service that An Garda Síochána has given to the State, it has featured in the headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent times.

It is in many respects alarming to think of the number of officers now coming forward with accusations of wrongdoing and bad practice within the ranks. By the same token, however, it can also be viewed as a positive development that will ultimately lead to the sort of cultural and organisational change that the force clearly needs.

The critical thing is that all these matters are dealt with in a speedy and efficient manner. Equally, however, it is important to bear in mind that not all allegations can necessarily be relied upon. Just look at the case of Garda Keith Harrison, who had claims he made rejected by the Disclosures Tribunal as being ‘entirely without any validity’. Whether fact or fiction, the important thing is that all allegations are investigated without any unnecessary delay.

It is therefore extremely worrying that Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission chair Mary Ellen Ring says she simply hasn’t enough staff to deal with the number of whistleblowers contacting her office. Given that there is little of greater importance than having a force citizens trust, every necessary resource must be made available to allow GSOC to do its job.