David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I raised this case because it was brought to my attention before the Garda Commissioner appeared before the committee. There was a value-for-money element to it because there was an allegation at the time that due process was not followed. That led to a criminal investigation that cost the State money. It went to court and the charges were dismissed. Leaving aside that case, I have no problem with individuals within An Garda Síochána who are falsifying records for the purpose of defrauding the State and the system being dealt with. Of course they should be dealt with. Nobody on this committee would stand over anything else. The question, however, is what processes are in place to determine that. When it is an issue of sick leave, it should be dealt with first by human resources and then the other systems, the disciplinary code and so on, kick in. That is the procedure to be followed. The point is that in this case that procedure does not seem to have been followed and there were a lot of question marks over the nature of the arrest and so on, all leading to the case collapsing in court.

There is, however, a more fundamental point, which Deputies Connolly and Catherine Murphy touched on, about the exit surveys. An Garda Síochána says there is no record of bullying being cited, but we need to know whether that statement is factual, in other words, whether it is based on the fact that An Garda Síochána does not have an organisational record or whether it has actually carried out the trawl. There is a difference. It would not be factually right to say there is no record. There may be no records held, but that does not mean that in a local Garda station somewhere, when gardaí start to go through any exit surveys, there would not be a record of bullying. If there is a number of records in one particular Garda station, that would create a problem because there could be a culture, which is what we were trying to establish.

Deputy Catherine Murphy's point about the independence of exit surveys is also important. I do not think that is a matter for our committee, however, and perhaps we should refer it to the justice committee. We should send our follow-up questions. It would not be good enough for the committee to decide the answers to our questions were unsatisfactory. We need to get clearer answers from the Commissioner and then perhaps we can decide how to proceed from there.