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

I am glad that the Minister can trivialise these important matters. He will survive tonight's vote, of course, but the reality is that his position will be weakened and he will not be the same person that he once was. Those who have backed him so vociferously have been somewhat discredited. Given what Fine Gael and, in particular, Labour have stood over in the past two and a half years in order to cling to power, I am not surprised. I have no more confidence in the rest of them than I do in the Minister - there is nothing personal about this.

Serious issues lie at the heart of this debate. The Government has sought to cover over the fundamental issues of democracy and accountability by slinging mud, insulting and back slapping. The Minister's comments have received significant focus in the past ten days, but little attention has been paid to why he made them. In my opinion, his efforts were a deliberate attempt to throw sand and divert attention from the important issues lying at the heart of investigations into Garda malpractice, namely, evidence somewhat revealed or somewhat left out of the penalty points report. The Minister has consistently sought to trivialise and minimise these issues.

I do not have time to go into all of the details, but a culture of writing off penalty points exists. The evidence has not been challenged. These are not minor matters. This morning, I received correspondence from a parent who lost his 15 year old daughter a number of years ago to someone who was speeding. People have supplied evidence about millions of euro in lost revenue, etc.

The Minister told the House that he took these issues seriously. He claimed that his Department received the information on these serious allegations in September and that he received it in October. This cannot be true. The Minister has failed to address the discrepancy in the Taoiseach's written evidence to the effect that he notified the Department of Justice and Equality in July, August and September. The Minister has failed to address the fact that we have seen evidence suggesting that he knew of the existence of a whistleblower in January 2012. He discussed these matters with the Commissioner in January and he read the reports in February. The confidential recipient met him before Easter. He handed an investigation into a complaint over to the Garda Commissioner, requiring the Commissioner to investigate himself. The Minister was aware of these issues, yet he did nothing.

Deputy Healy-Rae is quite correct, in that the Minister's relationship with the Commissioner is unhealthy and is under the spotlight. Has the Minister not wondered how the Commissioner could tell him in four days that there was no report on the former's incident despite the fact that Garda procedures require not one, but two such reports, when it took the Commissioner four years to answer the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission regarding serious questions of malpractice? Before an investigation starts, the same man can tell us that there is no culture of non-enforcement and can provide the Minister with information on Deputies.

The Minister's colleagues hope to put this matter to bed and to move on, but he will not move on from this issue. Many questions remain to be answered.

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