Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the acting Garda Commissioner for coming before the committee. I want to echo what Mr. Ó Cualáin said in his opening remarks that it is important always to realise and remember that the members of An Garda Síochána are out every day, often putting themselves at risk, to enforce the law, and keep us safe as a community and society. In looking at what are major failings, and this committee will do so with the acting Garda Commissioner and his management team in some detail, it is important to keep in mind that it is the same gardaí who have failed us who are putting their lives at risk and have reversed the situation in some of the main areas of crime, particularly in tackling the gangland scourge of recent years.

The heart of why the acting Garda Commissioner is before the committee, and why his predecessor was here, is that what happened is totally unacceptable. The falsification of data by any organisation is wrong; the falsification of data by the State's custodians of law and order is therefore doubly wrong. I appreciate the work done by the assistant Garda Commissioner in the investigation of this and some of the practices it has demonstrated, but I will focus on one particular aspect of this although not in a "gotcha" sense. I recognise the comments by the chairperson of the Policing Authority.

The Garda report and the acting Garda Commissioner's comments referred to the falsification of data being so obvious that there will be further investigation into the actions conducted at a divisional level, but this poses a direct problem. The members of An Garda Síochána, through their representatives, the Garda Representative Association, GRA, are effectively accusing the management of An Garda Síochána of having been responsible for causing this. Ironically, because they did not state this at the beginning, they are saying that much of this increased falsification came about because of a culture or pressure to raise the figures. How does Mr. Ó Cualáin propose to deal with a situation whereby management is trying to investigate the matter and then engage in disciplinary measures arising from that, where those who maybe disciplined believe that the ones disciplining them are the ones responsible?

What actions does Mr. Ó Cualáin propose to take if it does transpire to be the case - I want to be careful in how I phrase this - that, in the words of the Policing Authority's chairperson, there is an indication that, although it might not have been a direct instruction, there was an implied culture that this needed to be falsified by substantially more senior people with An Garda Síochána than the front-line gardaí taking out the tests?

I cannot see how this process of investigating and drilling down the line will work. I accept that rank and file gardaí participated in this. They had to, given that it happened across the country. However, I am sorry to say that the real failure was a management one, and not just of an individual manager in an area. It was a complete cultural and management failure to deliver a proper system. That is what needs to be changed. That is what Mr. Ó Cualáin, his team and the ongoing review of the Garda need to do. If the GRA's accusation is correct, how does Mr. Ó Cualáin propose to deal with the issue?