Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I agree with much of what has been said already and with the Chairman's sentiments on the national airwaves this morning. I was at most of last week's meeting, except for the end, but there were contradictions before that, particularly in terms of assessment of potential for criminality. The Garda Commissioner clearly stated there was no question of that but Mr. Barrett was less sure. I agree very much with Deputy Kelly in his sentiments about how deep we can go. As Deputy Connolly stated, we are here specifically for value-for-money and accounting issues but we cannot fail to be cognisant of the fact that in parallel there are many other issues facing the Garda. There is a major morale issue and people are entitled to have confidence in the police force. Whereas there is no specific relationship, these accounting matters will contribute in a very serious way to undermining that even further. Whatever we do, we need to do it quickly and to do it properly we will need to go into some level of depth. That involves seeking to bring in former Garda Commissioners and people who have been involved so we can determine value for money and where money was used.

The second issue is the level of contradiction in last week's meeting. As the Chairman stated, it is not a legacy issue; it is current.

To me it is a complexion and culture of delay to facilitate containment, damage limitation and cover up. This seems to be the sort of autopilot that is allowed to run in Departments and it is wrong. I do not know how we will manage this in terms of time but it needs to be our top priority given the implications. I would also like to see Mr. Barrett, Mr. Ruane, Mr. Kelly and the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality without the Commissioner in the room if possible. Whether it is appropriate to do this in private or public session I am agnostic, but I would like the ability to have an engagement with these individuals and put certain questions without, as it were, their boss sitting beside them. These are my thoughts so far.