Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)

That the overwhelming majority of people have great faith and trust in the Garda Síochána and the individual members of the force with whom they come into contact is very well set out in the results of the survey. However, there have of course been individual incidents of misconduct within the Garda, as there are inevitably individual incidents of misconduct within any large group of individuals, unfortunately. Such incidents were well documented in the Morris report which was published on events in Donegal.

The general public overall, as the survey indicates, have substantial faith and confidence in the Garda and the vast majority of the general public are very happy with their personal interaction with members of the force. However, even people who have had happy interaction with members of the force and who received great support from members of the force in times of crisis or difficulty with their own families are equally aware that, on occasion, there have been difficulties with individual members of the force. The survey portrays no more than that.

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