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DÁIL ÉIREANN AN COMHCHOISTE UM DHLÍ AGUS CEART, COSAINT AGUS COMHIONANNAS JOINT COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE, DEFENCE AND EQUALITY Dé Céadaoin, 11 Samhain 2015 Wednesday, 11 November 2015 The Joint Committee met at 2 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT: Deputy Alan Farrell, Senator Ivana Bacik, Deputy Seán Kenny, Senator Martin Conway, Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, Senator Denis O’Donovan, Deputy Finian McGrath, Senator Katherine Zappone. Deputy Fergus O’Dowd, In attendance: Deputies Jerry Buttimer, Noel Grealish and Kieran O’Donnell and Senators Paul Coghlan and James Heffernan.. DEPUTY DAVID STANTON IN THE CHAIR. 1 BUSINESS OF COMMITTEE Business of Committee Chairman: As we have a quorum, we will commence the meeting in public session. I ask everybody to please turn off all mobile telephones and other devices or put them on flight or silent mode. If somebody needs to use a device which might interfere with the sound system, please leave the room. Apologies have been received from Deputies Anne Ferris and Niall Col- lins. Policing Matters: Garda Commissioner Chairman: The purpose of this part of the meeting is to have an engagement with the Com- missioner of the Garda Síochána and her team on various matters. Members were invited to submit suggestions and these were forwarded in advance to give the Commissioner some idea of what might be asked. Obviously, other issues may arise as well in the course of the engage- ment. On behalf of the committee, I welcome the Garda Commissioner, Ms Nóirín O’Sullivan, and her team and I invite her to introduce its members. Ms Nóirín O’Sullivan: As I appear before the committee, I wish to state that I am delighted our two deputy commissioners have been appointed. On my right is Deputy Commissioner John Twomey, who is in charge of operations and national security, and on my left is the chief administrative officer, Mr. Cyril Dunne, who members have met on previous occasions. On his left is Deputy Commissioner Dónall Ó Cualáin, who is in charge of strategy and governance, Assistant Commissioner John O’Mahony, who has responsibility for crime and security and who was formerly in charge of the Criminal Assets Bureau, and Mr. Michael Culhane, our ex- ecutive director of finance. Chairman: The format of the meeting is that I will invite the Garda Commissioner to make an opening statement which will be followed by a question-and-answer session. It is a “catch- your-eye” situation with members. We agreed earlier that members will ask three questions initially and that I will then move on to somebody else. It is a question-answer-question-answer system. I ask members not to make speeches. We keep those for the Dáil and Seanad. Before we begin, I draw the attention of witnesses to the position regarding privilege. They should know that by virtue of section 17(2)(I) of the Defamation Act 2009 witnesses are pro- tected by absolute privilege in respect of their evidence to the committee. However, if witness- es are directed by the committee to cease giving evidence on a particular matter and continue to do so, they are entitled thereafter only to a qualified privilege in respect of their evidence. Witnesses are directed that only evidence connected with the subject matter of these proceed- ings is to be given and they are asked to respect the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should not criticise or make charges against any person, persons or entity by name or in such a way as to make him, her or it identifiable. Members should also be aware of the salient ruling of the Chair to the effect that they should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside the House or an official by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable. I invite the Commissioner to make her opening statement. 2 JOINT COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE, DEFENCE AND EQUALITY Ms Nóirín O’Sullivan: I thank the Chairman and committee members for the invitation to attend. I note the wide range of issues the committee would like us to address and I am happy to facilitate it in that regard. If I do not cover all the issues within the time allotted in the opening statement, we will certainly endeavour to deal with any questions members may have during the question-and-answer session. As Ireland’s policing and security service, An Garda Síochána has a long and proud tradi- tion of serving and protecting communities and the State. We are determined to ensure that we continue to tackle criminality and disrupt and thwart terrorism in all its forms. It is vital that we continue to adapt to meet the ever evolving threat from criminality in all its forms and meet new and emerging challenges. For example, we have recently introduced a new anti-crime strategy that can be adapted to tackle a range of key crime areas. From now on, all anti-crime strate- gies will feature five key strands: crime prevention; crime investigations and operations; victim support; education and awareness; and working in partnership with the community and key stakeholders. This intelligence-led, multi-strand approach sees us co-ordinate a wide range of crime prevention and enforcement activities based on intelligence and crime trends to prevent and tackle particular crime types. Earlier this month we launched the first of these anti-crime strategies - Operation Thor - with a particular emphasis on burglaries, the number of which, as we know, increase with the advent of the long winter nights. Operation Thor will see us actively target and disrupt organised crime gangs and repeat offenders by employing a range of methods including: high-visibility checkpoints; the use of high-powered vehicles by the armed regional response units; additional patrolling in burglary hot spots; monitoring bail conditions of prolific offenders; and on-road policing to deny criminals the use of the road network. Next week we will run a national advertising campaign across print, radio and online me- dia to raise awareness about how people can help protect their homes. If a crime does occur, including burglary, victims will be provided with crime prevention advice to reduce the risk of recurrence and revictimisation. We will also work closely with our most important partners, communities, directly and through community-based organisations, such as the Irish Farmers Association, IFA, Neighbourhood Watch and Muintir na Tíre, to reduce the opportunities for criminals and to ensure that people are working with An Garda Síochána. As an organisation at the heart of communities across the country, we know how crime and the fear of crime can impact on individuals and communities, rural and urban. That is why a cornerstone of our transformation programme - policing and security with TRUST - is about taking care of com- munities. “TRUST” is not just a word. In this context, it is an acronym: T, taking care of our communities; R, renewing our culture; U, unified governance and leadership; S, supporting our people; and T, technology enabled. It is a five-strand transformation programme and there are a number of subsets within it. An Garda Síochána has secured more than €200 million in Government funding for this transformation programme. Based on this funding, we are currently prioritising our key initia- tives to ensure the greatest community impact. Policing and security with TRUST, which we will launch shortly, will see preventing crime from happening in the first place becoming our number one priority. When crime does happen, as it will in any society, our people will have the systems, technology and the training to ensure all crimes are professionally investigated. Victims of crime will be placed at the heart of the work of An Garda Síochána. We will ensure there is a victim orientation. We have already begun this with the establishment of 28 victims service offices in each division throughout the country and the setting up of the Garda national protective services bureau to work with our most vulnerable victims. We will also 3 POLICING Matters: GARDA COMMISSIONER work closely with communities to identify the crimes affecting their areas and put in place solutions that will be as locally-based as possible. A good example of this already in practice is the text alert scheme. Working with the IFA, Muintir na Tíre and Neighbourhood Watch, we set up 700 text alert groups up and down the country with more than 125,000 members. More than 1 million texts have been sent under the system to advise local communities of suspicious or criminal activity in their local area. We are also working productively with a range of partners across the criminal justice, public and private sectors on crime prevention and detection measures in areas such as preventing the theft of farm machinery, enhancing the use of CCTV throughout the country, tackling metal theft and reducing reoffending by prolific offenders. Policing and security with TRUST will also see our six regional assistant commissioners given greater responsibility for how policing is delivered locally within their regions. This will result in policing becoming more focused on the individual needs of each area and the com- munities within it. A key way of reassuring the public is to increase the visibility of gardaí and ensure they are engaging with the community. People tell us they want to see gardaí on the beat or on patrol. Our objective is to maximise the resources available and get as many gardaí as we can engaging with the community to prevent and detect crime. The benefits of recent invest- ments in new cars and more gardaí are already being seen in communities.