Mr. Ronan Slevin:

Regarding the suspension issue, I share the Deputy's concerns. A recent case in Limerick highlights that a member had been suspended for almost seven years before an investigation was finalised in the courts and all charges dismissed. Thankfully, that member is back at work as we speak. This issue, though, is a matter of great concern for the association and our members. We are seasoned and experienced investigators on this side of the table and we cannot understand how an investigation can run on to such timelines or is allowed to run on to such timelines. We have DPP files that have to be prepared and submitted within 42 days once a member of the public has been charged, but we are taking six and seven years to bring our own members before the courts.

It must be remembered that these members are suspended and alienated from their community. There is the idea of there being no smoke without fire. There is a level of suspicion among their colleagues as well. We then have the situation where, in the case I referred to, that member was cleared. He is going back into an environment where there will always be the idea that he has to have done something wrong. There was always an acceptance that an investigation had to be done in a timely manner because of the role and function of a member of An Garda Síochána, but this has not been the scenario for several years. We do not have to trawl through the records of members currently suspended to see that all their cases have been going on for two, three, four and five years, if not longer. It is unacceptable and continues to be unacceptable, unfortunately.