Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am required for a vote in the Dáil However, this is an important opportunity to achieve clarity.

Some of my colleagues picked up on the language used in the Commissioner's opening remarks. I am always very keen to parse that. The Commissioner referred to "mistakes and wrongdoings". To my mind, "wrongdoings" constitute immoral or illegal acts. There is no other way of interpreting the word. It might sound less dramatic than words like "immoral" and "illegal", but there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that we are certainly talking about wrongdoings that equal immoral or illegal acts. Without question, there is a public sense - not just a political sense - that all this must have consequences. Some members of the committee have reflected the fear in this regard. The Commissioner said earlier that "we all take responsibility". She is well aware of the adage that when we all take responsibility, nobody takes responsibility. Nobody is responsible. I am not putting the Commissioner in a difficult position when I say, as Chairman of this committee and as an elected representative of my constituency and my community over many years, that I believe there is a critically important need to address this matter in a substantive and forensic manner. There must be a clear understanding that wrongdoing is an immoral or illegal act and must have consequences.

I ask the Commissioner to respond as she deems appropriate to a final comment. In the closing part of her opening statement, she summed up what has taken place by saying "at worst, this was deception". Again, this is a question of language. I do not know whether the word "deception" is a sufficiently strong portrayal of what has taken place here. Our understanding of the word "deception" is that it means the act of deceiving. It involves a person having someone else believe something that he or she patently knows to be false, or setting out quite purposely to have somebody else believe something he or she knows to be false. It is a very serious matter. This is important because words like "wrongdoings" and "deception" do not quite hit the pitch in what we are discussing here. Some key questions arise in this context. Who were those responsible seeking to deceive? That question has not been asked. Were they seeking to deceive An Garda Síochána, senior Garda management or the public? The Commissioner's very interesting hypothesis may very well be the case, but it is important that in the production of Assistant Commissioner O'Sullivan's report, there is clarity as to the purpose, intent or motivation, or all three, of those involved. Motivation is an area of clear interest. What was behind their action? What was their purpose? Was there a return or reward for acting as they did? It is important for the answers to these questions to be established properly and placed in the public arena. I hope this exercise will be as comprehensive as the Commissioner has assured the committee this morning it will be. I invite her to respond to the issues I have highlighted and to make any other closing remarks she would like to make.