Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Most of us who were here the last time and today, have sat here for the guts of ten hours and gone through thousands of pages. We have seen multiple contradictions between Garda management, among themselves and with the Commissioner. We have seen evidence that two members of civilian senior management do not have full confidence in their colleagues. We see issues across the board over financial procedures to the point where we do not even know if the Garda Síochána is tax compliant. We are talking about the Garda College and Garda finances but it is symbolic of a whole range of issues in the Garda. It is GUBU territory as far as I am concerned. This is a crisis for our country. The evidence that has been given here today means we have a crisis in our country with the Garda and the justice system. There is no way, given the evidence we have heard over ten hours or so, that I, as a public representative, could have confidence in senior Garda management or how the Garda is run. There is absolutely no way; it is impossible.

I will restate some evidence from earlier and then I will do a quick fire round. I would appreciate if people could be quick because otherwise I will keep coming back in all night. Mr. Barrett gave evidence earlier which I will repeat because it is critically important. We have two issues here. We have the process, which is the issue we are really dealing with, and then we have the issues on the finances. We are not even getting to the latter because there are so many questions about processes going back decades.

As a result of my concerns about how the Garda is run in the State, I need to zone in on up-to-date processes. I will sum up what Mr. Barrett said in his evidence and he may correct me if I am wrong. The Commissioner appeared before the committee and said the first time she was made aware of this was 27 July. We heard that from the Commissioner. The evidence she gave as a witness is she acted promptly. There had already been a committee set up to deal with the issues in Templemore on 2 July. It met on 2 July and both Mr. Barrett and Mr. Culhane were at it. I asked Mr. Culhane if he agreed with what Mr. Barrett said and he said he did. This is very important. We now have evidence, which is a complete contradiction of what the current Garda Commissioner said about when these issues were being investigated. To be fair, the Commissioner will appear before us in the coming weeks. She says it was 27 July and that she acted promptly. Two witnesses here have confirmed the committee had already been set up on 2 July. The committee met after that. I will ask questions about that.

The second issue was raised by Mr. Ruane. He has notes, as the legal representative, which state he was informed by Mr. Barrett that Mr. Cyril Dunne, the head of administration, had informed the Garda Commissioner about the issues in Templemore. Is that correct?