Administration

This Strategy document sets out the Vision, Mission and Strategic Objectives of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC), in accordance with the provisions of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, for the period up to and including 2020.

GSOC is an independent agency of the Department of Justice and Equality. Much of our administration is done through the Department. For example purchase orders, invoice processing and other financial services are processed by the Department of Justice Financial Shared Services Centre.

Payroll and expenses are processed by the central government Payroll Shared Service Centre. Human resources services are provided by Peoplepoint, the Government HR & Pensions Shared Service.

Read GSOC’s accounts for 2015. Previous years are available on request.

GSOC leases an office building on Abbey Street Dublin for its corporate headquarters. The majority of its staff are based here, with less than ten staff in two small regional Investigations team offices in Longford and Cork. We have 13 GSOC vehicles, which are fully owned. The organisation has no ongoing or planned capital projects.

GSOC adheres to public service procurement guidelines and is serviced by the Office of Government Procurement. GSOC currently has no tenders open. A list of current contracts (of over €10k for ICT and over €35k for other contracts) is shown here:

The Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015 is designed to provide information to the public about who is lobbying whom, about what. The Standards in Public Office Commission has established an online Register at www.lobbying.ie.

Section 6(4) of that Act requires each public body to publish a list of Designated Public Officials of the body. The purpose of that list is:

• to enable members of the public to identify those persons who are Designated Public Officials;
• as a resource for lobbyists filing a return to the Register who may need to source a designated public official’s details.

The following post-holder is a Designated Public Official of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, for the purposes specified by the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015:

 Director of Administration, Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.

For further information in relation to the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015, please contact the Standards in Public Office Commission or look at www.lobbying.ie.

This Corporate Governance Assurance Agreement has been drawn up by the Department of Justice and Equality in consultation with the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. It sets out the broad corporate governance framework within which the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission will operate and defines key roles and responsibilities which underpin the relationship between the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission and the Department of Justice and Equality.

Annual Report of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) for 2017 in accordance with section 22 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014

Under section 22 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014 each public body is required to publish an annual report outlining the number of protected disclosures received in the preceding year and the action taken (if any). This report must not result in the identification of persons making disclosures.

This is the second annual report of GSOC and it covers the period of 01 January 2017 to 31 December 2017.

There have been no disclosures made to GSOC under section 6 of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, i.e. from employees of GSOC, in the period covered by this report.

20 Feb 2018