Minister Urges Submissions On Effectiveness Of Garda Oversight Laws

Dublin Bay North Labour T.D., Sean Kenny, and member of the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality, is encouraging members of the public to make submissions on the effectiveness of the legislation relating to oversight of An Garda Síochána.

"The Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality is inviting written submissions from interested groups/individuals on the effectiveness of the legislation related to oversight of An Garda Síochána, including GSOC. The Committee will consider the effectiveness of the provisions of the Garda Síochána Act 2005. I would encourage all interested members of the public to make submissions.

"It is important to remember that the Committee will not consider submissions which deal with individual cases. The idea here is to get a wide view of observations are made about the Gardaí as a whole. It is also important to remember that anonymous submissions will not be accepted, nor will petitions and form letters. The Committee is seeking individual submissions. Submissions made to a Committee may be published as received either as part of a Committee report, or separately, if the Committee decides to do so.

"Written submissions should be sent electronically by email and should be received no later than 3pm on Friday 4th April 2014 at the following e-mail address only: Gardareview@oireachtas.ie and it is very important that submissions are concise and to the point. Submissions should be set out on a 'Section by Section' basis as they arise in the Act and should not contain any unnecessary or superfluous material that does not relate directly to the Act. If reference is made to other publications, a link to this publication is sufficient and it is not necessary to send these as separate attachments. For reference, the text of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 can be accessed online.

"Submissions and communications should only be sent to the email address above and not to individual members of the Committee. In a separate document from your electronic submission, please include a covering letter outlining in brief why you are making a submission. The covering letter should include your name, your postal address, email address and contact telephone number. You should also indicate in your letter if you would be prepared to appear in public session at any Committee meeting."

(CD/IT)