Recently, when speaking in the Dáil, the new Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald TD addressed the issue of reforming the Gardai. She spoke about the need to be vigilant about reform – about the need for constant questioning. Though she was speaking about the Gardai and the Department of Justice, I think the following extract says something that holds relevance for our entire political system:

“But time passed and systems failed. That’s the truth of it. And that’s a truth that should inform our thinking from now on. We must never be seduced into believing that a once-in-a-lifetime radical reform is enough. More to the point, we must understand that major reforms carry their own inbuilt danger: the assumption that, because of the scale of change, we won’t need to be vigilant from that point on. If there’s a single overarching lesson we – and all the organs of the state related to justice – must learn, it is that major reform never removes the need for constant questioning, constant attention to detail, constant reaching for what is better, constant review, rather than what will “just do.’”

Statement in the Dáil by Minister for Justice, Frances Fitzgerald TD, on the report by Sean Guerin SC in to actions taken by An Garda Siochana pertaining to certain allegations, 15 May 2014.

To read the full speech go here.