Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)

Former superintendent, John Fitzgerald, was criticised by Mr. Justice Frederick Morris for leading the utterly negligent investigation into the death of cattle dealer, Richie Barron. My concern is whether the culture within the force has changed. It is largely agreed that for the Garda Síochána to regain its position as a respected and trusted protector of the peace, the organisation must root out the small but disproportionately influential core of mischief-making members who damaged the reputation of the force with such detrimental effect.

How can we weed them out when retired members of the force linked so closely to wrongdoing in Donegal are brought in to recruit new members of the force? I wish to highlight the lack of communication between the Department and the Garda Síochána. One of the key concerns voiced by Mr. Justice Morris was the issue of effective communication between the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and Garda headquarters.

One of the most glaring omissions from the Minister's raft of reforms to date is the establishment of an independent Garda authority. It seems the Minister states he and the Government act as a Garda authority but that is not good enough.

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