The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) is an independent statutory body in Ireland charged with overseeing An Garda Síochána, the police force of the Republic of Ireland. It was established under the Garda Síochána Act, 2005. The Commission deals with complaints from members of the public about Gardaí. It replaced the Garda Síochána Complaints Board. The Commission has more powers than its predecessor, and unlike it, it is not made up of members of the force. It came into being in December 2005. Its first three commissioners were appointed in May 2006. The GSOC commenced hearing complaints in May 2007.
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It is empowered to:
The GSOC will provide an independent and effective civilian oversight of policing. It will deal with the public’s complaints concerning Gardaí fairly and efficiently so that everyone can have confidence in the complaints system.
Three people make up the GSOC. They are Carmel Foley (former Director of Consumer Affairs), Conor Brady (former editor of The Irish Times and author of a book on the history of the Gardaí) and Dermot Gallagher (former secretary general of the Department of Foreign Affairs) who replaced the late Judge Kevin Haugh as chairman.
In its first year the GSOC received 2,084 complaints from members of the public and 294 referrals from the Garda Commissioner. A total of 556 allegations were deemed inadmissible. Since the inception of the office, the GSOC had sent nine files to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), five of which the director decided not to proceed with prosecution. A decision on the other four were pending.
A total of 4,227 allegations arose from 2,681 complaints. Allegations of abuse of authority, neglect of duty and discourtesy constituted the seveny five per cent of complaints received. Assault accounted for thirteen per cent of the complaints. A total of 1,360 allegations were deemed inadmissible. The report revealed that 31 files were sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), identifying 44 potential defendants.The DPP gave 11 directions for prosecution. One garda was convicted of dangerous driving, arising from a GSOC investigation of an incident in 2007. Ten others were awaiting court dates at the end of 2008, the report said. The DPP gave 30 directions for no prosecution. The GSOC received 129 referrals from the Garda Commissioner, in cases in which it appeared to the commissioner that the conduct of a Garda member may have resulted in the death of, or serious harm to, a person.[1]
In February 2011 it rejected allegations by a group representing almost 12,000 Gardaí that it behaved in an “excessive and oppressive” manner when gathering evidence in the case of a garda who was charged with assault.[2][3]
Because of the large number of complaints in 2007 from County Mayo, arising from protests at the Corrib gas project, the Commission wrote to then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform Brian Lenihan requesting a review of how the protests were policed under section 106 of the Garda Síochána Act. The minister said he "did not feel it was appropriate to proceed".[4][5][6] His successor Dermot Ahern gave a similar answer in the Dáil when the request was repeated by Sinn Féin two months later.
The GSOC has recommended that disciplinary action be taken against an unnamed senior member of An Garda Síochána in relation to the handling of a protest over Corrib gas in north Mayo. The GSOC investigation was undertaken under section 95 of the Garda Síochána Act, 2005, after receipt of complaints over Garda handling of a protest at Pollathomas pier in June 2007. Some 20 civilians and two gardaí were injured when a landowner objected to trespass on his property by contractors for Shell EP Ireland. Some 68 gardaí were contacted by the GSOC – a move criticised by the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors.[7]
The GSOC had received up to October 2009 a total of 111 complaints, in regard to policing of the protests, of which 78 were deemed admissible. The Director of Public Prosecutions were sent seven files but the DPP did not accept evidence for criminal prosecution of gardaí in all seven cases.[8]