Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

We obviously have very limited time. The Minister said he is not in the business of getting information from An Garda Síochána, and it is not in the business of giving it to him, and that we can all be reassured. I am certainly not reassured.

Yesterday, the Minister claimed he was at a briefing on the termination of fixed charge penalty notices where the information in regard to Deputy Wallace came up. Today he told us there was a conversation with the Garda Commissioner. Why did a briefing on the termination of fixed charge penalty notices have any relevance to Deputy Wallace, who did not benefit from a termination in that regard?

I wonder how the Garda Commissioner would be privy to such trivial information about an event that did not register on the radar and took place over a year ago. Was it at this briefing or conversation that the Minister received Garda information regarding Deputy Flanagan, which the Minister released in his press release at the same time as he issued a report in which he alleged that he was unwilling to co-operate with Garda investigations, that he cancelled meetings and so on?

Is he not aware that under data protection legislation it is unlawful for him to divulge such information? There is a view that it would, in fact, be a criminal offence. Not only that, but what the Minister divulged was not information but misinformation, because the incident as he described it did not happen in that way. He has again taken this opportunity to accuse some of us on this side of the House of wildly bandying around unfounded allegations with some spurious motivations. The reality is that the root of this investigation happened because of the bravery of two whistleblowers, honest members of An Garda Síochána, acting in the best interests of the force, who wanted to know why, while honest gardaí decided to not exercise their discretion and give penalty points, senior officers cancelled them for reasons that had no valid basis.

Those people went through every correct channel to ensure the information was heard and they only came to us in desperation. Why did the Minister chose to have an investigation which his friend, the Commissioner, Mr. Callinan, told us before it had even started would reveal there was no culture of writing off of penalty points? Yet, that even limited inquiry revealed that 40% of the terminations were improper or are the subject of disciplinary investigations. It is hardly a vindication.

I have some questions for the Minister. He said some of the most serious issues have been dealt with. The biggest problem I have with his report is my inability to believe it. In the report he stated he got the information in October, and that his Department was furnished with the information in September by the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Transport. He is on the Official Report of the Dáil on at least six previous occasions as having said the same thing.

My problem is that I have correspondence from the Taoiseach dated 22 July where he says he gave the Minister's Department the information on that date. I have further correspondence from him dated 13 August and 14 September, when he again says he gave the Minister the information. I note the Minister told the media he has an inconvenient habit of telling the truth. Therefore, I can only assume that if he is telling the House that, it is the Taoiseach's correspondence that is a lie because both of them cannot be telling the truth.

How can an investigation which starts on the basis of a lie have any credibility? Where is the supporting information for all of the claims written in the report? How do we know the claims have been substantiated when it is the very same gardaí who were accused of this malpractice who adjudicated and investigated themselves?

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