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Garda highly secretive, says law expert

The Irish Police force Garda is one of the most secretive police forces in the world, according to a professor in criminal law. Prof Dermot Walsh, director of the Centre of Criminal Justice at the University of Limerick, was speaking at a conference on Police Governance and Accountability, organised and hosted by the University.

The Professors paper on Garda corruption and reform, stated that the Garda does not publish documents and policies that as a publicly accountable body it should do.

Orders covering all aspects of Garda management and practices are not publicly accessible. The same applies to the existence and contents of Garda policies.

Although Professor Walsh said that major progress had been made in recent years in relation to Garda accountability to the public, major challenges must be faced.

The Garda stated that it enjoys an 80 per cent satisfaction rate with the public but there is always room for improvement. The Garda Ombudsman Commission has also sought to justify involving Gardaí in some of the commission’s investigations.

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