Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

I offer my condolences to Garda Flatley's family. I also take this opportunity to thank all the ordinary members of the force across the country for their work. I was at the GRA conference not so long ago so I want to acknowledge that.

I have some fairly direct questions for the Commissioner and his deputies. I would appreciate short answers purely because of the clock. I would also appreciate it if the Chair could help me in that regard.

I am holding a gun holster similar to that worn by Garda Horkan when he tragically lost his life on 17 June 2020. The witnesses are well aware that I have raised these holsters previously in the Dáil on a number of occasions, in particular with the Minister. I wish to get a direct answer to a question. We know that prior to Garda Horkan being killed by Stephen Silver with his own gun, there was an incident in front of the Israeli ambassador's residence. I take it the witnesses are aware of this situation in which a garda's gun was discharged. The incident was investigated by the GNTB. There was a pathway for investigating it, including the holster. Although the garda was wearing a different holster, it was made by the same company. I have a selection of all the holsters.

In that scenario, outside the Israeli ambassador's residence, where this issue occurred with the gun and holster, the GNTB came in and followed the pathway for the investigation. However, that is not what happened in the case of Garda Horkan where a different pathway was followed. The case was investigated by a chief superintendent and a sergeant. Why was this pathway used, and why was it different to the pathway used to investigate the holster incident outside the Israeli ambassador's residence a week earlier?