Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

For a long time I and my party have lost confidence in the Minister's ability to do his job, and we are reflecting the feelings of the wider public who do not support his actions or policies. A motion of no confidence is a grave matter. The country faces huge challenges, which are being actively debated day in and day out, but that is not a valid reason we should not hold the Minister or his Government to account, despite its massive majority.

The Minister holds what is arguably the most sensitive position in Government. That sensitivity arises from the roles and relationships the Minister has with some of the most important institutions of State. He is responsible for the Garda Síochána, he must provide for the Judiciary, and he receives important and confidential information, often pertaining to State security. This motion is the culmination of the fundamental policy mistakes and massive errors of judgment displayed by the Minister. It is about broken and damaged working relationships, flawed policies and the misuse of privileged information for political gain.

In addition to a series of strategic errors, the Minister has fatally compromised his integrity in that role by using this information that was not on the public record to gain a quick and cheap political advantage. Under the Minister we have seen 140 Garda stations lying idle in unprotected communities throughout the country. We have seen a poorly resourced Garda force hovering above 13,000 hit with additional budget cuts in the midst of an unprecedented morale crisis. We have a Judiciary so alienated by the Minister that the Chief Justice had to intervene to set up a remediation forum to restore confidence in the rule of law.

Under the Minister we have a new personal insolvency regime that has handed all the cards to the very banks that have fuelled the property boom. Under the Minister we have a Garda Síochána Ombudsman and Garda force which are in open conflict with each other. In addition to all that, the Minister misused his position for cheap political gain by jeopardising his relationship with the Garda Commissioner, which is one of the most important working relationships in the State.

I do not expect this damning list of failures to have any impact on the Government benches. They have already shown their true colours and what their new politics really mean, but for an Opposition party there is an obligation to hold the Government to account and ensure such mistakes and abuse of power do not go unnoticed. The disastrous policies, poisoned relationships, hypocrisy and arrogant abuse of power by any Minister will never be allowed go unchallenged in this House.

Regarding the personal insolvency regime, let us look at the record of the Minister, whom the Government has claimed is the most radical and reforming Minister for Justice and Equality ever. The mountain of debt facing home owners is a deeply personal crisis for those struggling to stay afloat in tough times and a national crisis that is dragging the economy into an ocean of debt. Instead of producing a Bill that gives home owners under pressure a fair chance to come to terms with their bank, the Minister has given the financial institutions all the power under the regime. With no independent arbitrator or appeals mechanism, the Government has created, through the Minister, a bankers' veto on progress in tackling debt.

The Minister has missed a number of deadlines in that regard. The delayed insolvency regime is due to get up and running during the summer. Hard-pressed home owners will find little relief in the new system that is biased towards the very banks that got them into the problems they have in the first place. Home owners will be left with only the final nuclear option of bankruptcy to save themselves if the banks wield their powerful veto over any arrangement. This is a missed opportunity to throw a lifeline to those drowning in debt and not the radical reform the Government points to in defence of the Minister.

It is fair to say the Minister has the most toxic relationship with rank and file gardaí ever experienced in the history of the State. That is due in no small part to the Minister's arrogant mismanagement. It is hostile and it has played out over the airwaves day in, day out, week in, week. He engaged in megaphone diplomacy over the airwaves, and it was unseemly.

We must recall that only a few months before the last election, the Minister told this House that a reduction in Garda numbers would "obstruct the battle against crime"and that it would see drug gangs and their leaders "drink a celebratory toast" to the then Minister. What do those words mean now? Under the Minister we have witnessed the jaw-dropping closure of 140 Garda stations throughout the country announced on budget day by e-mail. The Minister is jeopardising the fight against crime by putting at risk the number of gardaí in the force, potentially lowering it to below 13,000. He has dropped their payroll budget by up to €36 million, and it is being openly stated by rank and file gardaí, right up the line to management in the Phoenix Park, that they will run out of cash in early December to pay the Garda payroll. The Minister can shake his head ruefully but we have raised this with him on many occasions. It has been reported authoritatively in the press but he continues to deny that. The day will come when there will have to be a debate about a supplementary budget but the Minister was happy to seek to fund a Garda force insufficiently to fight crime.

What is the Minister's position on Templemore? He promised he would re-open Templemore later this year but then did a spectacular U-turn on that. All of this is against a backdrop of rising burglaries, drug smuggling and serious dissident activity. The Minister expects to lead the fight against these headline crimes when he will not resource the Garda Síochána. He continues to recruit into the Irish Defence Forces but he will not recruit into the rank and file members of the Garda Síochána.

The Minister can huff and puff about it but Fianna Fáil has put forward, through our budget submission, our fully costed alternative budget proposal that would see Templemore reopened to recruitment and rural Garda stations, and many Garda stations across this city, opened. Instead, in the Minister's own words, criminals will be toasting his decision to dismantle the gardaí as the thin blue line is stretched even thinner across the length breadth of the country.

The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission was set up by an Act of this Oireachtas. If anything, it has proven that the Garda Síochána, in the main, carries out its functions with the highest integrity and professional standards. In recent weeks, however, we have witnessed a complete breakdown in the working relationship between the force and the ombudsman. The ombudsman is a vital component in keeping the force to account, and an effective working relationship between the two is a vital connection to ensure public trust in the justice system. The Minister is entrusted with ensuring that relationship is not neglected and that it does not break down to the point it has now reached. The public must know that the checks and balances in the system are maintained. It is the duty of the Minister to oversee that, but he has failed to do that. In recent weeks we have seen the chairman of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission taking to the national airwaves to articulate his dissatisfaction with the way he is being received in his statutory role which was given to him by this House.

Separate to that we had another member of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission articulate exactly the same and the Minister has done nothing about that. That is not good enough.

The gardaí are not the only stakeholders to be alienated by the Minister. The unseemly dispute that has erupted between two fundamental branches of government strikes at the heart of how we operate as a functioning, democratic state. The fact the Chief Justice was forced to intervene and establish a new forum to help smooth over the turbulent relationships between the Minister and the Bench reflects the complete disconnect the Minister has shown in his dealings with the stakeholders under his Department. A breach between the Judiciary and the Government that results in an open dispute undermines the separation of powers and the rule of law. That the Minister has allowed relationships to deteriorate to the point where judges felt the need to give public speeches criticising Government policy on the Judiciary was a fresh low. We have reached a dark moment where senior members of the Judiciary have called into question the strength of the rule in the State.

The past two weeks have brought these matters to a head. The mask has completely slipped and the arrogant, out of touch manner that we all suspected has been fully revealed. In a shocking abuse of power, the Minister used confidential information given to him by the Garda Commissioner to gain cheap political advantage over an opponent. This is not the time to talk about the rights or wrongs of Deputy Mick Wallace. What is at stake this evening is far more important than one person or incident; it is about a Minister who has reached a tipping point. The Minister has exploited personal, off-the-record information he acquired solely because of his Ministerial position to launch this personal attack. In a democracy based on the rule of law, every citizen, regardless of his politics, is entitled to due process. Betraying the responsibilities of his ministerial seal, the Minister took on the role of judge and jury himself for his own political advantage.

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