Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses here today. I respect the work that they are doing, but to say that there could be an improvement in the way they are being treated is an understatement.

I would like to paraphrase a few things here. In one case study the Garda Síochána was in possession of the information requested, but refused to supply it. The refusal took 48 days. It took 136 days from the request for this information to be provided. Another case study states that it took 84 days for an information request to be complied with. Despite writing to the Garda Síochána on ten separate occasions requesting updates as to the progress of the investigation, it has yet to be concluded. If I was being treated with this type of contempt, I would resign. It is ridiculous to think that one would have to write on ten occasions looking for an answer. As public representatives, we have a tough enough job getting information at times but if we had to write ten times on one case, we would never get anything done.

I do not know how the witnesses are managing to function at all. They are being treated with contempt. It is ridiculous to wait 136 days to get an answer on anything. I do not know how the Minister for Justice and Equality can stand over that and allow it to continue, nor why the witnesses are not in here today saying that they are outraged. They should be up in arms. They are very quiet, nice people. Nobody would treat me in that way if I was given a role and I had to keep writing week after week looking for the same answer from the same people who refuse in order to frustrate. Is there a policy somewhere that the commission should not be there and that it is not wanted?

This is a disgrace. I am shocked at this report. The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is about independent and impartial inquiries, yet nobody is answering them. They are too big for answers. That is a bad situation and I do not know how the witnesses put up with it. I do not know how the media have not picked up on it. Is everybody asleep?