The Gazette 1987

281 / 342

GAZETTE SEPTEMBER 1987
In
this
Issue
Role and Function of
Lawyer in the
Modern World 273
Social Welfare Payments
and the Assessment of
Damages in Civil
Actions 281
Law Reform Commission -
Conveyancing and
Land Law Reforms 285
Debenture — Attestation
of Company Seal 287
Executive Editor:
Mary Buckley
Editorial Board:
Charles R. M. Meredith, Chairman
John F. Buckley
Gary Byrne
Daire Murphy
Michael V. O'Mahony
Maxwell Sweeney
Advertising:
Liam 0 hOisin. Telephone: 305236
307860
Printing:
Turner's Printing Co. Ltd., Longford.
The views expressed in this publication,
save where otherwise indicated, are the
views of the contributors and not
necessarily the views of the Council of
the Society.
The appearance of an advertisement in
this publication does not necessarily
indicate approval by the Society for the
product or service advertised.
Published at Blackhall Place, Dublin 7.
Tel.: 710711. Telex: 31219.
Fax: 710704.
GAZETT INCORPORATE D
LAWSOCIETY
OF IRELAND
Vol.81 No. 9 Novembe r 1987
Viewpoint
Severe criticism, much of it gross-
ly unfair, has been levelled at the
performance of the Gardai in their
hunt for the kidnappers of the un-
fortunate Mr. John O'Grady. We
have been treated to the curious
spectacle of the Minister with
jurisdiction over the Gardai joining
in the criticism while, at the same
time, The Irish Press was calling for
resignations in the wake of the
matter. In other countries it would
have been the Minister himself
who would have been offering to
resign. Unfortunately, perhaps, we
have not established a tradition of
Ministers accepting the Truman
Doctrine that "the buck stops
here" and so the Minister, as with
a number of his predecessors on
equally embarrassing occasions,
felt no pressure to go.
That there have been failures in
the course of the operation cannot
be denied - but there have been far
greater successes - the victim was
rescued alive as a result of the
courage of two ordinary Gardai,
one of whom has paid a severe
price for his bravery, and a number
of persons have been located and
charged, all as a result of ordinary
foot-slogging police work - investi-
gation and follow-up.
When we look at the cause of
the failures, let us not be too readily
impressed with the calls for "more
and better resources". "Resources"
is a code word with two main
meanings:-
1. expensive equipment and tech-
nology, and
2. more overtime.
With hindsight, the Conroy
Commission's recommendation of
overtime which brought short-term
industrial peace to the force has,
like so many other short-term solu-
tions to industrial relations maladies,
proved to contain the germs of a
worse disease. The time has come
to reconsider seriously the.approp-
riateness of a rigid overtime system
in a police force such as ours. That
is not to say that Gardai should not
be adequately rewarded for com-
mitments which they are required
to make beyond the norm.
The equipment solution is a new
facet of the old Irish Public Service
fallacy that providing something
that everyone can see is patent
evidence that the problem has
been solved! It used to be new
buildings that provided this evid-
ence until it became appallingly
clear that we had far too many
public buildings for our needs.
Buildings have now been replaced
by "new equipment and the most
modern technology" as the ideal
solution. Whether the equipment
and technology provides any more
genuine solution to the problems
than the buildings used to is ex-
tremely doubtful.
If we analyse the failures at
Midleton, Limerick and Tipperary in
the search operation, it does not
appear that lack of resources was
a significant factor. What does ap-
pear is a failure to establish and
operate proper systems. The Mid-
leton group of Gardai, perhaps
prematurely closing in in advance
of the arrival of their military sup-
port, found themselves outflanked.
Gardai at check points are said to
have waved a taxi with two sus-
pects through more than one check
point. Finally, the arrangements for
the detention of potentially unwill-
ing suspects at Tipperary Garda
Station were inadequate. The con-
clusion to be drawn from this is
that the Gardai's methods of oper-
ation reveal deficiencies in organ-
isation which may well be traced
ultimately to the inadequate train-
ing of the force.
We have commented before on
the need to implement the Report
on Probationer Training in the Garda
Siochána. It has lain on the desks
of Ministers for Justice in two suc-
cessive governments for far too
long. The production and imple-
mentation of the Report on Officer
Training needs to be expedited.
Hopefully, the fact that the new
Commissioner was a member of
Icontd. on p. 287)
271