Brian Stanley urges stronger oversight as Gardea resources fall short
Brian Stanley addressed policing oversight and Gardea resourcing, arguing for amalgamation of the policing authority and the Gardea inspectorate only with strong, practical oversight. He warned that the Gardea budget has nearly doubled since 2016 while frontline Gardea numbers have fallen, and raised concerns about disproportionate force and strip searching at protests.
The speaker said amalgamating the policing authority and the Gardea inspectorate makes sense provided there is strong oversight. He emphasised oversight must be practical in how it is implemented and function, and noted earlier speakers had highlighted flaws he would not repeat.
He recalled serving on Joint Policing Committees and described them as useful but toothless. He said proposals risk recreating that weakness and called for committees to have strong powers, genuine oversight roles and real input into community policing and local policing plans.
He pointed out that the Gardea budget had risen from 55 billion to 105 billion since 2016 and that the justice budget increased in line with that. Despite the larger budget he said there were fewer frontline Gardea, citing an example of only two Gardea in Port Arlington and reporting a nationwide shortage affecting country towns and frontline policing.
He criticised what he described as disproportionate use of force at a recent peaceful protest outside the gates, saying the response on Sunday and the previous morning was not proportionate. He questioned the use of strip searching, invoked its historic use against Republican women prisoners in Armagh jail, and said such practices must be accounted for and avoided.
He welcomed improvements to Gardea stations and mentioned a new station in Port Alicia, but urged the Minister for Justice to prioritise community policing and visible Gardea presence rather than directing daily deployments. He also raised social protection issues, asking about means-testing for the carers' allowance and access to GP medical cards as matters needing to be tackled.
Oversight and proposed amalgamation
The speaker said amalgamating the policing authority and the Gardea inspectorate makes sense provided there is strong oversight. He emphasised oversight must be practical in how it is implemented and function, and noted earlier speakers had highlighted flaws he would not repeat.
Joint Policing Committees and local input
He recalled serving on Joint Policing Committees and described them as useful but toothless. He said proposals risk recreating that weakness and called for committees to have strong powers, genuine oversight roles and real input into community policing and local policing plans.
Budget growth contrasted with frontline shortages
He pointed out that the Gardea budget had risen from 55 billion to 105 billion since 2016 and that the justice budget increased in line with that. Despite the larger budget he said there were fewer frontline Gardea, citing an example of only two Gardea in Port Arlington and reporting a nationwide shortage affecting country towns and frontline policing.
Protest policing and strip searching concerns
He criticised what he described as disproportionate use of force at a recent peaceful protest outside the gates, saying the response on Sunday and the previous morning was not proportionate. He questioned the use of strip searching, invoked its historic use against Republican women prisoners in Armagh jail, and said such practices must be accounted for and avoided.
Community policing, stations and social protection issues
He welcomed improvements to Gardea stations and mentioned a new station in Port Alicia, but urged the Minister for Justice to prioritise community policing and visible Gardea presence rather than directing daily deployments. He also raised social protection issues, asking about means-testing for the carers' allowance and access to GP medical cards as matters needing to be tackled.
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Transcript
The situation regarding the policing authority and the Guardia inspectorate, it makes sense to amalgamate them, providing that there is strong oversight. Some of the flaws have been highlighted here by previous speakers, I am not going to go over them. But I think it is important, by and large, to Gardea get it right in terms of policing in this state. We do need, because Gardea and police forces need to have a lot of powers, there also needs to be a lot of oversight, but it needs to be practical in terms of how it is implemented and functions. Could I just raise a switch in relation to the Joint Policing Committees? The Joint Policing Committees, I was a member of them for the last number of years, and they were useful for them, but they were a bit toothless. What has been proposed would look like a recreation of that. They need to have strong powers, they need to have a strong oversight role, and a real input into community policing and local policing plans. I would also raise which in relation to Gardea, the budget overall has nearly doubled since 2016, from 55 billion to 105 billion, and the justice budget has increased in line with that. But while there is more Gardea and a bigger budget, we have less frontline Gardea. You know, I saw it in Port Arlington the other day that there are two Gardea in the town, second biggest town in County Leash. You know, and this is the problem, and I'm sure you are hearing it in your constituency, but down around the country and in the country towns we are hearing this, there is a huge shortage of Gardea, we are hearing it from the Gardea ourselves in relation to frontline policing. Just in relation to resources, you know, we can see that, you know, in the case of the Dublin rights and that, that Gardea resources were stretched, you know, some improvements have been made, the public order units have been expanded, and that's all welcome in terms of when it's needed, but it needs to be proportionate. And what happened yesterday morning, and over Sunday morning, wasn't proportionate outside these gates. You know, it is a peaceful protest, and I'm not going to go on long about this, but, you know, it fails me why there's a need to use such disproportionate force. It's not probably, I've been on a lot of protests over the years, but I haven't seen the Gardea using that type of unnecessary force. Thank you, Deputy. Deputy, I'm not sure you're coming. What I'm really, what I'm really curious about is, why is strip searching used? The last time that was used as a foreign punishment was against the Republican women prisoners in Armagh jail, and that was in different times, and we don't want to see that used down here, you know, that kind of oppression of women and invasion, and we just ask that the Gardea, you know, that that would be, that needs to be accounted for. Could I say just in relation to the, in relation to the overall then with the, with the estimates, the, the Gardea and the funding of justice is very important, and we've seen some improvement in the Gardea stations, and that's to be welcomed. The new station in Port Alicia, as you know, is going ahead, but really you need to, as Minister for Justice, well, you don't want to be telling the Gardea Commissioner where to send the Gardea on a daily basis. I understand that. But there has to be more of an emphasis on community policing, and visible Gardea presence. They can't be seen everywhere, but we can do better than what we're doing. Just in relation then to other issues, you know, there's a considerable budget there for social protection. Will the means test, the means test on the carers' allowance? I don't see that happening yet. The GP, medical cards, et cetera. Issues like that need to be tackled, Minister. Thank you, Deputy Catherine Connors. And I thank you to take that back.