The Garda Commissioner has said an assessment of the threat and risk of corruption in An Garda Síochána has been completed and an anti-corruption unit has been set up.
Drew Harris was responding to the publication of a report by the Garda Inspectorate warning of the potential for gardaí to abuse their power for sexual gain and the need to ensure officers maintain professional boundaries.
The report also points to weaknesses in the areas of substance testing, business interests, and post-employment activities for gardaí.
The commissioner said policies on these risks are to be published shortly.
The Garda Inspectorate says the purpose of its report published today was not to identify specific incidents of garda corruption but to examine the force's effectiveness at preventing, detecting and mitigating against the threat of internal corruption.
The inspection also assessed the structures, strategies and processes in gardaí - benchmarking them against a range of commonly accepted anti-corruption measures that are considered necessary for any modern police service to operate effectively.
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The report warns of the potential for gardaí to abuse their power for sexual gain and the need for them to notify their supervisors of associations and relationships.
There is, it says, no shared understanding of the concept between An Garda Síochána, oversight bodies and groups representing and supporting vulnerable victims, and no clear understanding of common behavioural characteristics or indicators, nor was there any awareness-raising of the issue among leaders, supervisors or the wider workforce.
The risk to gardaí, the report says, was poorly grasped and cases were dealt with in isolation and it is an issue that has profound human rights implications for victims, the organisation, and the criminal justice sector.
"Abuse of Power for Sexual Gain", the report says "can be extremely harmful to the persons affected and represents a significant breach of trust with profound implications for the victims"
The report also points to weaknesses in the governance and supervision of garda discretion and highlights an absence of policies and guidelines in substance testing, business interests and post employment activities.
It also says there is poor understanding and confidence in the processes for speaking up and reporting concerns and wrongdoing.
Prosecution failures
The Garda Inspectorate says a high volume of prosecution cases for serious offences such as drink driving, threats to public safety and public order offences have been discontinued at court.
It says one of the most prominent reasons for a case not proceeding against a suspected offender is the failure of the prosecuting garda to turn up in court.
The report also points to the unavailability of evidence, procedural errors, compensation payments and poor box contributions as reasons for cases not going ahead but in many instances the inspectorate found no explanation.
It examined a sample of district court prosecution files and identified significant gaps in the supervision and management of garda members.
It says the risk of corrupt exploitation in the absence of strong supervision is clear and poses a significant threat to the reputation of An Garda Síochána.
Evidence management
The report has highlighted several weaknesses in the way gardaí record, store and manage evidence seized during search operations.
It says there is insufficient and inadequate storage for evidence, an absence of an audit trail and access controls, and inadequate training and security advice for those who manage the evidence.
Property and evidence management is a critical function in any police service and vital for the efficient management of criminal investigations and prosecutions, the report says.
The inspectorate recommends that the force improves the recording of evidence seized during search operations and the security of their stores and personnel.
Fixed charge notices
The report says that applications by gardaí for statutory exemptions to speeding fines and fixed charge notices were not always robustly scrutinised by supervisors.
Of the 459 applications by gardaí in the year from August 2018 and August 2019 only one was refused.
Almost half of those who applied (48% from a sample of 25 files) provided no explanation for exceeding the speed limit.
The inspectorate says the applications lacked detail and supporting verification by applicants and should be more rigorously tested by supervisors.
Examples of good practice
The inspectorate says it did encounter examples of individuals and specific departments in An Garda Síochána developing policies and practices that could enhance organisational integrity in spite of the fact that until recently counter corruption was not considered in a formal, systemic or strategic manner.
It points to the supervision of prosecutions in the Cavan Monaghan Division Court Presenters Office, regular reviews of a property and evidence store in another division, conflict of interest declarations in human resources and online learning to change practices in juvenile cases.
These examples, it says, are important as they show how on their own initiative, sections of the garda workforce are identifying processes to improve leadership and supervision, strengthen professional integrity, enhance organisational resilience, and cascade organisational learning.
The inspectorate also says that these show the value placed on integrity by the organisation.
In response the Garda Commissioner said that a garda anti-corruption unit, led by Assistant Commissioner Pat Clavin the former head of the Criminal Assets Bureau., is now operational.
Its establishment was announced in May 2019, two months before the Inspectorate started work on this report.
Drew Harris also says a strategic threat and risk assessment of corruption in the gardaí has been completed and policies on substance misuse, anti-corruption, and abuse of power for sexual gain are due to be published shortly.
Assistant Commissioner for Organised and Serious Crime John O' Driscoll announced last Christmas that drug testing was being introduced for gardaí.
Commissioner Harris also pointed out that not all the recommendations in the Garda Inspectorate report relate to An Garda Síochána, as some require investment in ICT infrastructure and legislative change.
Commissioner Harris described the report as useful and informative and said he will examine its 34 recommendations.
He also said it is clear that gardaí are predominantly honest and perform their duty with integrity.
However, Chief Inspector Mark Toland said that due to the corrosive nature of corruption and the potential it has to severely damage public confidence in policing, there was no room for complacency.
