Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This motion of no confidence will take a predictable path. The Government will read out a list that will present the Minister as verging on a saint; the Opposition will argue a case that tries to present him in as bad a light as possible. I will say something that may surprise the Minister. For the record, I believe he is an immensely hardworking Minister and somebody of immense capability, with the potential to do great good in his portfolio in the time ahead. Of course he will win this vote of confidence tomorrow. However, I will outline to him substantial concerns my party has in regard to policing, the present and the historical relationship between his ministry and senior police in this State, and the need for change. I ask the Minister to hear our case, which is made to him in sincerity. We acknowledge his strengths but he also needs to hear the weaknesses.

In terms of Garda morale, 140 stations will have closed across the State. The argument that has been made by the Minister and the Garda Commissioner is that it is all about efficiency, modernisation and smart policing. It is the way to go. The Minister has spoken about the 750 stations that existed in the time of the RIC and the fact that these police officers would have cycled around, and the need for modernity. The difficulty with his argument, however, is that he has reduced Garda numbers and presided over this reduction, by 10% in recent years from the previous government until now. We see a net reduction of hundreds of Garda vehicles. Any Member of this House or the Seanad who talks to their local gardaí, from grass roots to senior level, will say they admit to us they are not happy with the changes, not because they are resisting change but because they see the impact in their communities.

The Minister and his Government colleagues must know that morale is genuinely low. As recently as last week I spoke to a couple of gardaí in this city who shared with me their concerns about how these cutbacks will affect their ability to do policing. They are immensely impressive people who want to provide a service to this State, but we are failing them.

For the first time in its 35 year history the GRA did not invite the Minister of the day to its conference. That is deeply worrying because nobody wins if front-line gardaí have such concerns about a Minister. I admit that the previous Minister, Dermot Ahern, had a similarly poor relationship, to the point that the former president of the GRA made a blistering speech which gave rise to considerable controversy. We need to deal with this issue.

A couple of weeks ago the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission published a seven page summary of a 500 page report that it had submitted to the Minister. The report expressed grave concern that the lessons of the Morris tribunal, which was the reason the commission was established, had not been learned. It found that contemporaneous notes had not been maintained and expressed concern about the handling of informants. The commission clearly felt it did not have the co-operation it should have received in investigating the Kieran Boylan affair and the serious allegation that an individual convicted of drug dealing found in possession of €1.7 million of cocaine and heroine had his charges dropped without reasonable explanation. The commission carried out an investigation in the public interest and put its concerns in the public domain but the Garda Commissioner dismissed the report by saying he did not have sufficient time to consider it. Two weeks later we still do not know the Commissioner's response. The Minister has stated that he wants to pull both sides together to address the issue but the Government needs to clearly outline what it intends to do to address the commission's concerns.

The penalty points debacle began when two honourable members of the Garda came across what they regarded as double standards in the administration of the law. They expressed their concerns to the appropriate Garda authority, that is, the confidential recipient, but nothing happened for months. They also raised the issue with the Comptroller and Auditor General in light of the financial implications and with the Road Safety Authority. I understand they also made contact with the Taoiseach, who passed their information on to the Minister, Deputy Shatter. These individuals were not hiding behind a cloak of anonymity; they were trying to change things for the good. However, the Minister chose to ask senior police to investigate senior police. That was the wrong decision. He should have requested the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to investigate the issue because of the concern that senior police will not have sufficient independence or separation from the individuals they are investigating. The Garda Commissioner and the Minister then chose to criticise the Garda whistleblowers instead of commending them and implied they were acting anonymously when their identities were in fact known. In raising the matter with the appropriate authorities and putting it into the public domain when they felt they were getting nowhere with the internal structure, these two brave men have done a service to the people of this State because we will now have a new penalty points system that is accountable and provides a paper trail. It is acceptable in certain circumstances to rescind penalty points as long as citizens clearly understand the reason. These individuals should have been commended instead of criticised. That was the wrong approach on the part of the Minister. The overwhelming majority of gardaí, from the bottom to the top, are people of the highest honour who want to serve this State. There is nothing to fear in making the system better and more accountable.

The Government has indicated that it intends to introduce whistleblower legislation. I remind the Minister that we got into this crisis because too many people in the private and public sectors failed to blow the whistle or shout stop. For whatever reason, they did not speak out about what they knew to be wrong. We now want to create an environment in which people can feel comfortable speaking out. What encouragement will those who want to speak out get from this debacle? One of the aforementioned whistleblowers has had to resign from the force and I am sure the other one is seriously considering his position. That is in nobody's interest. The matter was badly handled in a way that goes against stated Government policy.

In regard to the Deputy Wallace affair, I think the Minister looks back on that moment and wonders why he chose to make his comments. It was wrong but it was not new. For too long the relationship between senior gardaí and the Ministers of the day was unhealthy. They were almost interdependent. The history extends back to the Seán Doherty affair, the Michael McDowell business and the issues arising for Deputy O'Dea. This unhealthy relationship needs to change. Our amendment to the motion calls for an independent police authority, a proposal which Fine Gael used to support. The authority would have independence in its budget and affairs, and would be insulated from political interference. As an independent policing authority, the Garda should be fully accountable to the Oireachtas and joint policing committees. Gardaí would also be required to co-operate fully with the ombudsman and the Garda Síochána Inspectorate. We need a new beginning to policing and the relationship between senior gardaí and Ministers. The information on Deputy Wallace came into the Minister's possession but he was wrong to use it. It was a huge error of judgment on the part of the Minister.

In regard to the issues raised by Deputy Mattie McGrath, the Minister put his own version of what happened at that checkpoint into the public domain and repeated it in the House tonight. He may be entirely correct in his assessment but there are different presentations of what happened that night. The only people who can shed light on the matter are the gardaí who were on duty. While the Garda Commissioner has indicated that no record exists of the incident, there must be a record of the checkpoint itself because a checkpoint with a mandatory breathalyser test can only be sanctioned by somebody at the level of inspector or higher. The record of the checkpoint would set out the number of tests administered and their outcome, when they took place and who was on duty. That information would be passed onto the local superintendent and to Garda headquarters. We call on the Garda Commissioner to speak to the gardaí who were on duty that night to confirm or contest the Minister's version of events in order to put the issue to bed. Checkpoints and stoppages are not the central issue in this affair. It is more important that the public have faith in the Garda and its accountability. The Morris tribunal found that a small minority of gardaí in my county of Donegal behaved reprehensibly and abused their power. We were supposed to have learned lessons from that tribunal. We subsequently established the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, the Garda Síochána Inspectorate and the Garda Síochána Act 2005 to move us in the right direction. Let us take the next step by establishing an independent policing authority which would be completely free from political interference while remaining fully accountable to these Houses.

I have been marking the Minister from the Opposition benches and have seen many things that impressed me. I do not dispute his immense capacity or desire to introduce reform and improve matters.

He has waited most of his life to become Minister for Justice and Equality and I am sure he wishes to complete his term of office. If he survives this period, I ask him to learn lessons from recent events. If he manages to remain Minister for Justice and Equality for the duration of the Government, I ask him to introduce the reforms that are necessary. He should also allow the allegations by Garda whistleblowers concerning penalty points to be examined independently by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. There is nothing to fear from having a spotlight shone on this issue.

There are two certainties with regard to the Garda Síochána. First, morale among the men and women of the force is at an all-time low. Whether the Minister accepts, agrees or understands this, gardaí feel demoralised as a result of the recent plethora of cutbacks and the impact they are having. This is an important issue which must be addressed through engagement and by winning hearts and minds. This will require the reversal of some of the cutbacks the Government has made. The second certainty is that we must restore public confidence in how policing is carried out at senior levels and the manner in which it relates to the Department of Justice and Equality. Those are the two challenges facing the Minister.

The Minister will survive the vote of confidence tomorrow night as the Opposition will vote virtuallyen blocin favour of the motion, while the Government side will fully support the Minister. That is fair enough but once the matter has been closed, we need to know that lessons have been learned. Neither the Minister nor I is perfect but we need to move on and make things better. That is the challenge arising from this debacle and I hope the Minister is up to meeting it.

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