A “transformational plan” for An Garda Síochána will be announced in the new year and the necessary reforms for the force will be implemented, newly appointed Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan has said.
In an interview on RTÉ’s Crimecall programme she said they had conducted an internal survey “to hear what our own staff had to say, both our sworn members and our civilian members”.
They have also started a public attitudes survey and that “isn’t just for the sake of having a survey. We actually want to hear how we can improve, how we can grow, how we can be stronger.”
She said they had learnt lessons from the past and those lessons would be implemented.
They would be part of a “transformational plan that we will be announcing in the new year and that we will be implementing and driving through the reforms that are necessary”.
Ms O’Sullivan said the first thing she did on her appointment was to “call for constructive dissent as opposed to destructive consent”.
She said she wanted people to feel empowered externally and internally to raise issues with the force, “that they would be listened to and they would be heard”.
She said they had gardaí who every day do their best and sometimes put themselves in extreme danger to protect the communities they served.
They had worked with international partners and particularly the PSNI and had had some “very significant successes against dissident republicans and people who would want to undermine the peace we have achieved on the island of Ireland”.
The Commissioner said she admired the strength of local communities that had been absolutely devastated by the abuse of drugs in their communities and working in partnership with those communities we can do a lot.
The controversies in recent times have certainly impacted the trust and confidence of the community in An Garda Síochána.
“But we have a very strong based on which to restore and rebuild that confidence.”
She highlighted the trust of local communities in rank-and-file gardaí but when it was put to her that the lack of trust was in the institution and senior management, Ms O’Sullivan replied that “there is no doubt we have work to do in terms of the institution but I do think we have the opportunity now to do it”.
She said the numbers of applicants when recruitment opened earlier this year, at 24,000 for “a couple of hundred places”, showed how much An Garda Síochána was valued in society and it stood testament to the men and women of the force and the job they did.
