David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

No. These were disciplinary investigations which is a different process. The question we asked is whether there have been instances of people who were arrested for suspected fraud.

The point is that this individual’s case is the only instance where there was an arrest and the person was brought before a court for alleged fraud relating to a sick note. The case was then dismissed in court. We asked were there any more instances. This letter does not answer the question. It talks about disciplinary processes. My point is that there is no candour here in terms of giving the responses to the questions that have been asked.

More importantly, we asked about the related policy and practice in An Garda Síochána for dealing with suspected fraud relating to sick leave and the details of it. The response noted that instances of non-compliance with sick leave regulations and falsification of records are reported to human resources. It states the Civil Service disciplinary code may be invoked for serious misconduct. In the case we raised initially, that did not happen. Why? That is the point. In this case, the Garda seems to have bypassed its own processes and went straight to an arrest.

What we know is that the gardaí who arrested this individual were known to her. That was an issue as well. There are issues with process here. It may well be that they are not for this committee to discuss - I do not know - but they came up in the course of an appearance of the Garda Commissioner before the Committee of Public Accounts. We need to go back to the Commissioner and get clearer answers to the questions we put. The obvious ones concern the exit surveys, which I have cited. Can he be clearer that there was only one case, as it seems there was, that led to a criminal investigation? That should be very easy for him to respond to. Furthermore, why was this issue not dealt with through the Civil Service disciplinary code, as per Garda policy?