Policing Authority wants ‘fundamental flaws’ tackled
An Garda Síochána’s flagship plan to modernise the organisation will not deliver the goods unless management addresses the “fundamental flaws” preventing its implementation, the Policing Authority has said.
In its fifth report to the Minister for Justice, the authority says the Garda’s Modernisation and Renewal Programme is not costed and that the necessary resources have not been provided to ensure it can actually be carried out.
The report says crucial barriers relating to training, human resources, ICT, and accommodation must be cleared before the five-year programme could be implemented. The report, delivered to Minister Charlie Flanagan, says Garda HQ must conduct an “urgent” reworking of the programme.
It states that “almost every component” of the Modernisation and Renewal Programme has a training dimension but the demands “cannot be met” by the group’s training capacity.
The programme was published in July 2016 after the Government agreed it would be the vehicle for implementing the Garda Inspectorate’s Changing Policing in Ireland report, published the previous December.
The report states: “If the Garda Síochána does not, at this juncture, pause briefly to reconsider in a determined and focused way the end to which its efforts and resources are being directed, as well as what key enablers and levers it needs to achieve that change, then it is the authority’s view that a continuation of the current activity and effort, however well intentioned, will not deliver the fundamental reform envisaged in the Government’s decision of July 2016.
“Neither will it deliver an improvement in the quality of working life for those within the Garda Síochána, or an effective, responsive, modern policing service for communities.”
The authority says it does not “make these statements lightly”, as it recognises the heavy investment in the modernisation and renewal of the force, both in direct funds to the Modernisation and Renewal Programme and the time and effort invested by committed people.
It says previous reports to the minister reflected a “growing concern” at the pace of implementation.
“However, the pace of progress is now secondary to the authority’s concern over fundamental flaws in the reform process that are much more significant than timing,” states the report.
It says the key issues for frontline gardaí are:
The report says these issues were not addressed in the Modernisation and Renewal Programme and thus
at this resulted in the plan being is “divorced from the reality of their working lives”.
