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Updated at 6.26pm
AN INDEPENDENT REVIEW of the Department of Justice published this afternoon has found that the organisation is driven by a “closed, secretive and silo driven culture” — leading to an announcement from the ministry’s Secretary General that he is to step aside from his position.
The review, published on the justice.ie website shortly before 4.30pm, was commissioned in the wake of the Guerin Report into claims of malpractice made by garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe.
Amongst the other top five issues highlighted by the review group were:
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald asked for the review to be carried out on the 3 June — in the wake of the report into McCabe’s claims by senior counsel Sean Guerin, which ultimately cost her predecessor, Alan Shatter, his job.
Chaired by CEO of the Dublin Airport Authority, Kevin Toland, it was tasked with examining Guerin’s concerns about how the Department is run, and with assessing the effectiveness of current management structures.
In a statement released shortly after the report’s publication, the Department said that Secretary General Brian Purcell had offered to be “reassigned” to elsewhere in the civil service.
The Minister thanked Purcell “for his contribution to the State” over the last 28 years; he has also worked as Director General of the Irish Prison Service, and was previously with the Department of Social Protection.
The six person group that carried out the review, which also included former Seattle Chief of Police Kathleen O’Toole, convened seven times between early June and mid-July, and met with over internal 20 staff members from the Department.
Three interviews were carried out with Purcell as part of that process.
It also interviewed 25 additional people, and received feedback and submissions from 30 staff.
Brian Purcell, pictured alongside former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan and former Justice Minister Alan Shatter.
In the section of its report detailing what it described as “significant weaknesses” within the Department, the review group found the culture of the Department “to be closed and unnecessarily secretive (even taking into account the important and confidential nature of some of the work)“.
It found that this had resulted in “an inward looking organisation with limited learning capacity and reduced openness to new ideas“.
…the Review Group found that although there has been a challenging expansion of work, the overall Departmental culture has not changed or adapted to the world in which it now operates.
The culture of confidentiality in the Department’s dealings with An Garda Síochána has influenced the leadership style, management practices and relationships with other agencies.
The need for secrecy in particularly sensitive areas has not been restricted to those areas. It permeates much of the Department’s remit and has become part of its DNA, to the detriment of other areas that should be open.
Management
These shortcomings led to a number of serious failures recently, the report concluded, particularly in the Garda Division of the Department “regarding how briefings between the Minister and senior management were handled“.
The failings are summarised as follows:
Communications
There is “no coherent, structured communications strategy” within the Department of Justice, the report concluded.
In addition “the communications area is inadequately resourced” the panel found, and “there would appear to have been inadequate constructive relationships” with the media, which it says are…
…vital in a world where the pace and nature of media interactions are growing exponentially.
Technology
In a conclusion which perhaps shines some light on why’s Martin Callinan’s letter to Alan Shatter about the taping of phonecalls at garda stations didn’t get to the Minister for two weeks, the report states:
Minister Fitzgerald speaks to the media this evening.
The independent review makes a number of recommendations, and says the Department should start by…
…focusing on changing closed and secretive cultural model to being as open and inclusive as possible considering appropriate confidentiality…
It says a change in “leadership and management routines” needs to happen and that there needs to be a more “structured approach to how agencies and key relationships are managed” in order to hold them more accountable.
Speaking this evening, Minister Fitzgerald said she had confidence in the current staff in her department to implement the recommendations of the report.
Additional reporting Hugh O’Connell & Nicky Ryan.
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Any wonder people are escaping at the rate they are?
Exactly, and these are the people us bigots here want to help because they need it badly.
Not the economic migrants from elsewhere bloating the tide of humanity at Europes door
I have absolutely no issue with helping genuine Syrian refugees fleeing this terror. On the other hand a structured plan is needed to help Syrians return once the conflict has ended and giving them the tools they need to rebuild the country.
blame mother Russia
Agree 100% Jason
Be careful what you believe to be the truth amongst the propaganda from Syria and the Turkish/western media….
America or Isreal bombs a hospital and they’re the devil. Russian-backed Syrian government forces bomb a hospital and people shouldn’t rush to judgement?
Nice to know at least that the pro-Russians believe fully in the concept of double-standards.
Stephen…on this topic you wont find balanced and fair on AlJazeera,Fox or CNN….
Jason…i take it you have seen the bearded gentlemen on the internet gleefully run for cover as they wait for their home made “hell cannons” to discharge their home made projectiles? Im not easily convinced of the accuracy of any reports played up and repeated ad nauseum by western media….the truth WILL emerge in days.
Jason: No doubt that hypocrisy does exist, but you can hardly claim to be immune to hypocrisy yourself. Following the bombing of the MSF hospital in Afghanistan you did offer rationalisations for it and said it wasn’t a war crime.
I somehow doubt you’ll be making the same rationalisations in this instance.
When American or Israeli military forces bomb a hospital as in Kunduz and Gaza, it’s usually reported by our media sources as a “regrettable mistake”. If the Syrian army make the same ‘mistake’ in Aleppo, it’s called an “outrage”.
How’s that for pro-western media double standards ?
Rebels attack
Fail to advance, suffer heavy losses
Shell civilians in frustration
Government retaliates on their positions
FSA/IS plays victim card on Internet
Ian…that sums it up.
Just watched a TV The other evening, nothing in that conflict is just black and white, there are parts of cities are just piles of rubble and other parts of cities where life goes on in a “normal” fashion. Large sections of the country have never heard a shot fired and others hear it every day. There are no good guys, guys change sides all the time, defecting from and to the regime and the same with the “opposition” forces. One militia command er stated the to get any lasting “peace” everyone has to sit at the negotiating table (except ISIS)
Bill…i think i watched that prog…an american production?
@ Peter, it was on PBS (a us channel) it didn’t really have any particular real “angle”
Bill..thats right..it was a toss up between vincent browne or Syria…Suuria won.
Yeah I seen that programme. An American reporter showed both view points. Crazy situation. Western looking secular life style in one place, carnage in the next place
Hell on earth.
How can people live in the midst of such destruction.
The arms industry is the problem,uk industry 1 billion a year,someone has to use them,someone has to die
We kind of thought this way in Ukraine, up before Russia annexed Crimea and sent “volonteers” and weapons to the East of Ukraine. Our defence industry was nearly ruined, army was only on paper. We wanted to be neutral. It does not work this way nowadays same like 200 years ago. It is sad reality. The saying ““Help Your Own Army, If You Don’t Want To Feed Someone Else’s” is still very important today.
The possibility is that it was Russian planes that did it, although they’ll never admit it, just like they “never” sent soldiers into Ukraine, or shot down the passenger jet.
I would have to ask why every regime plane has not been destroyed by now? On the ground, that is. With their satellites and drones the US must surely have had the capability to accomplish the task.
Now that the Russians are heavily involved it will be much harder to do. A missed opportunity.
Aleppo, a lovely city now ruined, it’s people paying the price of a power struggle
The Russians as an ally of Assad were always involved.
Bombing all the stationary aircraft early in the campaign would have set off a conflict with Russia and enabled the jihadists to run wild
Foghorn, it’s not a crime to migrate to earn a better living. I am always shocked at the ease with which ppl judge other ppl.
“It’s not a crime to migrate to earn a better living”
Well actually that depends where you’re migrating to
To migrate isn’t a crime, but to try and claim “refugee” status when you aren’t fleeing a country at war or where you are persecuted, that’s another thing.
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