Setting a new agenda: “appreciating” and improving Garda custody in Ireland

In this chapter, I take an “appreciative” and comparative approach to assessing police custody in Ireland, using this to map out an agenda for the future. It has two main aims. First, I critically assess key features of garda custody in Ireland, examining not only strengths but also weaknesses with reference to academic literature on police custody in Ireland, and in England and Wales, as well as the Garda Inspectorate’s Delivering Custody Services report published in 2022. These features include risk assessment, custodial legal advice, detainee dignity and vulnerability, and material conditions. Second, I map out an agenda for the future of garda custody in Ireland, examining some of the strengths that can be built on in order to instigate change. Here, I draw on evidence and recommendations from a five-year mixed-method ESRC-funded study which identified the importance of detainee dignity and favourable material conditions to “good” police custody.