Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The paragraph that caught my eye was the pay dispute and the difficulties this is causing for GSOC. Aileen Healy, the director of administration in GSOC stated: "We have been informed that, since July 2021, as result of a dispute over pay and allowances, some senior Garda officers have withdrawn from work they consider outside their core duties." The question arises as to whether some Garda officers were not taking that line. We do not know. The reply also states: "Such duties include the investigation of complaints referred to them by GSOC under section 94 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005." It is very serious if complaints that have been referred to the senior gardaí to investigate are not being investigated. Even more serious is the following statement: "These are complaints involving alleged breaches of discipline and do not include criminal allegations." If senior gardaí are refusing to investigate complaints alleging breaches of discipline, that would be a very serious matter. Deputy Murphy has suggested that we write to GSOC to ask if this is correct and if these duties are outside the core work, which would be surprising. We will see what GSOC has to say about that. We will seek that clarification from the ombudsman.

Deputy Devlin is not with us. Is it agreed to that we should seek that clarification? Agreed.