Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Let us be quite frank about this issue. We all smell a rat. According to the transcript of the relevant meeting, the then assistant commissioner and now acting Commissioner stated he would provide the committee with the information we sought. He was speaking ad libitumwhen he indicated there would be no problem providing the information. As acting Commissioner, he is now the most senior garda in the country.

As we all know, criteria must be applied in making such decisions. The letter or piece of paper containing two paragraphs that we received is utterly disingenuous. It is a borderline political response because it answers questions that were not asked and avoids the issue on which we all want answers, namely, the criteria that must have been applied when the decision was taken to reopen certain Garda stations. If criteria were not applied, a political decision was taken for the benefit of a certain individual who sits at the Cabinet table. The committee must see the criteria. The Department of Justice and Equality must have decided to present this statement to the committee, through An Garda Síochána, as a holding line because it does not want to provide the information requested until it is able to back it up and put it through the Cabinet or one of its sub-committees. I suggest the committee write to the acting Garda Commissioner demanding that he honour the undertaking he gave in response to the committee's request for information. We should indicate we want this information by this day next week and that if it is not provided, we will find that he is not co-operating with the committee.