David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On page 17 it is stated An Garda Síochána did not have the authority to enter into an arrangement in terms of the Dromad farm because that was in contravention of section 29(3) of the Garda Síochána Act.

That provision prohibits An Garda Síochána from entering into contracts relating to land. It states that money raised was to be transferred to the Office of Public Works. Page 20 states section 29(3) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 prohibits gardaí from being involved in land contracts and that the legal standing of the Garda college management as directors was questionable. Page 21 states that Garda members, including superintendents, did not make declarations that they should have made. There is a litany of breaches, potentially, in law.

This is my final question to the Commissioner. This report is serious - the Commissioner has accepted that. It seems there was an attempt by people within the Garda Síochána College to frustrate the work of the Garda internal audit service. That is how I see it, because it took a long time - this goes back to 2006 - to get reports, papers and documents that should have been given to internal audit but that were not given. We had breaches in law as well. I have not even got to any of the issues relating to the bank accounts, including the laundry account, the bar account and the restaurant account. Other members will go through the detail in terms of how all the money was spent in ways in which it should not have been spent.

Several breaches of legislation are documented in the internal audit. How can the Garda Commissioner be satisfied that the law was not broken by members of the force in terms of any of these issues? How can the Garda Commissioner be certain that there was no criminal wrongdoing?