Mr. Martin Callinan:

The Deputy can take it that these are serious matters. I have heard the commentary and it would fly in the face of logic to suggest that these are not serious matters. There is a great degree of trust and responsibility placed on the members of An Garda Síochána at the basic garda rank. As one moves up the ranks and sees the responsibility placed on superintendents, district officers and inspectors acting for them, one can see the type of responsibilities being imposed. There is an onus on these people to behave in a manner commensurate with the position within An Garda Síochána. These are extremely serious matters and the Deputy can rest assured that they will be taken very seriously.

We must be careful and I must stress that what we are dealing with is a recommendation from the assistant commissioner that these matters require to be investigated further in the context of disciplinary proceedings. That is a very important distinction and the report of assistant Commissioner John O'Mahony's report examined the produced facts. It is certainly the case that with the allegations and level of detail contained within them, the people reporting them could not possibly have seen the detail that the assistant commissioner and his team saw. They were disenfranchised through not fault of their own and I do not make any criticism of the members for doing what they did. That is the position.

We must be careful when we speak about a disciplinary investigation. The members at the centre of this should enjoy the same benefits as any other citizen of this State until the facts proven against them state otherwise.