Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

national | rights, freedoms and repression | feature

Wednesday May 09, 2007 10:16

by NMI

An Indymedia Reporter Keeps Their Eye On The Ombudsman

Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission opens for business

Today was the official opening of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. The idea is to provide a civilian oversight of the Gardaí and provide a way for people to make complaints about the police without going through the Guards themselves. Unfortunately, only invited members of the corporate media were allowed into the opening, so this indymedia report is confined to the outside of the building.

Amazingly, the Gardaí tried to stop me taking pictures on the pavement outside, and even tried to block the camera. Eventually after trying to interrogate me they stopped and sulked from a distance. I think they realised that they couldn't arrest me outside the GSOC offices on their opening day, but they were certainly considering it for a while...

The three commissioners of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission are a Sinn Féin councillor who is an ex-prisoner, a former member of the Black Panthers, and a Community Worker from Dublin's North Inner City.

Actually, that's not true. They are the former Director of the Office of Consumer Affairs, a High Court Judge, and the ex-editor of the Irish Times. So the cops don't have a whole lot to worry about there.

The GSOC will deal with complaints from midnight tonight, and it can investigate incidents backdated six months. The date November 10th 2006 is exactly six months ago, so a number of complaints relating to the Garda attack on the peaceful protest at Bellanaboy that day are expected.

According to the press release which they gave me by mistake, the GSOC is required and empowered to investigate complaints against members of the Garda Síochána, and will have a staff of around 100. It is not clear what they need the large SUV style jeep, or whether this is just to make them feel important, like some sort of rapid reaction force.

We'll see what the story is when they start receiving complaints, but on the basis of the homogeneous and establishment make-up of the government appointed commission, the pally relationship they seem to have with the minister and the cops, and the suspicious and hostile attitude to anyone from outside the corporate media which was exhibited today, I don't think we should be expecting too much...

Michael McDowell, Carmel Foley, Kevin Haugh, Conor Brady