Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

It was difficult for Deputy Wallace to introduce this substantial body of work in 15 minutes. On the surface, the Garda Síochána enjoys a high level of public support and confidence. If one scratches the surface, however, a different picture will appear quite quickly. Most citizens will rarely cross the path of a garda - perhaps only to get a passport application signed. If one contacts a garda to deal with a speeding offence, it might not be not as straightforward as it might once have been, following the recent revelations of a ticket-fixing scandal. It is really only when something happens - one becomes a victim of a major crime or some other accidental event causes one's path to cross that of the Garda Síochána - that one really experiences how our police force operates and a different picture emerges.

Along with other Deputies who have highlighted ticket-fixing allegations and revelations, I have been contacted by people the length and breadth of this country. Many of those who contacted me looking for help and justice, particularly following my own arrest earlier this year, are in the Gallery this evening. They have shared horrific and unbelievable stories of how their lives have intersected with the activities of the Garda Síochána. When one hears that some of the events in question happened a long time ago, one realises that the people in question will never get justice. Many lives have been destroyed. The number of stories makes it clear to me that these actions are not exceptional. We have an enormous problem because there is a lack of accountability in the Garda Síochána. The actions to which I refer are undermining the work of honest gardaí, the concerns of victims of crime and the rights of all ordinary citizens. As Deputy Wallace said, the blue wall of silence is as impenetrable as it was when Mr. Justice Morris completed his deliberations, spoke about incidents of negligence, perjury, corruption and mistreatment of vulnerable people and pointed to a total lack of accountability. While that case was shocking, it is more shocking for us that absolutely nothing has been done about it. When people try to do something, they get nowhere and often end up worse off.

I could be here all day dealing with specific cases of people who innocently crossed the paths of those who might be referred to as "connected persons", but we do not have time for that. I can say, however, that there are people in the Visitors Gallery whose lives have been absolutely destroyed by their interactions with the Garda Síochána. I could mention the case of a man in my own area who employed 12 people. An employee of his, who set up a rival business, was in a relationship with a detective. The detective harassed and intimidated the man out of business and the 12 employees lost their jobs. I could speak about a non-Irish-born taxi driver who refused to give a drunk garda a lift on New Year's Eve. He found himself harassed and intimidated to the extent that he had to give up his licence. I could refer to a couple who are loving grandparents. When they moved down the country, they happened to live beside a woman who was well-connected with a garda. The woman in this couple, who is in the Gallery, was a victim of assault and the case ended up in court. She and her husband became the victims of ongoing Garda persecution. They had to spend of thousands of euro in the courts to vindicate their good name.

While these citizens were falling foul of members of the force, the State organisation charged with protecting their rights and dealing with their complaints - the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission - this year had to take the incredible and unprecedented step of going public about the lack of co-operation it is receiving from the Garda Síochána. What message does that give to the Minister who is sitting here tonight? Two months after the commission published that report, it said it had "grave concerns" about informant handling. These issues were well highlighted by Mr. Justice Morris but they were not implemented. The commission has documented that the level of co-operation it received from the Garda was "highly unsatisfactory". It said that these issues would cause a "significant detrimental" impact on its investigations.

I would say the steps taken by the commission were quite revolutionary, in a quiet way. If this is how the Garda Síochána treats the State body that is charged with investigating complaints, God help the poor members of the public who have to deal with the force. Quite frankly, the Garda has been brazen in its disregard for the commission. It has been blatant in how it has ignored the legal protocols that mean it is supposed to furnish information to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission in a timely manner. It has responded to the commission by asking it why it is asking for certain information. That shows some neck, given that the Garda is obliged to provide it. There has been a move from a position where the commission was automatically entitled to be furnished with all Garda circulars, to the current position where that information is withdrawn. The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission has been told if it wants a circular to ask for it, but how is the commission supposed to know that a circular has been issued?

This is activity that has been ongoing since the GSOC published its report and our question to the Minister concerns what he is going to do about it. When his party and the Labour Party were in Opposition, they called for an independent police authority to oversee the activities of An Garda Síochána. Now they are power, they have a chance to do something about it. We must go back to brass tacks. If one looks at this situation, one can see there needs to be a culture change starting at the top of An Garda Síochána.

We need only look at the penalty points situation to explain that point. Here we had an honest, decent garda who wanted to make the force better and to fulfil his legal obligation to report malpractice. He went to the confidential recipient who then went to the Minister and the Minister went back to the Garda Commissioner. That garda is now in very vulnerable position. There was an investigation. We believe the practice has now re-emerged because no action has been taken to deal with it. Before the investigation even started, the Commissioner was on record as saying that there was no case to answer. We have been inundated with gardaí around the country telling us to keep raising these issues. If one has a system where a decent Garda inside the pack who tries to expose these issues does not get protected, what hope is there for transparency beyond that? The proposals we are putting forward for a new independent board could be a way of changing the confidential recipient situation by making them answerable to the board to have true independence because it is necessary to protect decent gardaí. Instead, the reality is that not only are those gardaí not being protected, they are being ostracised and demonised.

At the same time, we have examples of gardaí whose behaviour has been found to be far less appropriate but who have not experienced any disciplinary action at all. Not only is that reprehensible for the individuals at the heart of the malpractice, it costs the State money. Let us remember that the Morris tribunal cost €60 million while claims against the State have cost €34 million. We must say that the lessons are not being learned by the Government. Knowledge regarding these cases is in the public domain but from where we are sitting, very little has been done.

One only has to look at the DPP's report in 2001 into the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier in west Cork, to which Deputy Wallace referred. The DPP said that a prosecution of Ian Bailey was not warranted on the basis of the evidence. In the Supreme Court, the activity of the gardaí in the case was categorised as "breathtaking" misbehaviour. The DPP dealt with issues where the investigating Garda, Jim Fitzgerald, gave hash, cash and cigarettes to a drug user with criminal convictions in order to obtain incriminating evidence against Ian Bailey. Not only was no action-----

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