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

The problem with the Minister's answer is that the relevant information has been in the public domain for months. What has emerged in the interim is a new four-page circular in which it is acknowledged that all was not well in the state of Denmark. Said acknowledgement runs contrary to the Minister's assertion to the effect that everything was fine. Changes were recommended but what the GPSU suggested, namely, that an entire set of procedures should be introduced and made available to all on the website, has not come to pass.

The other problem the Minister has is that one of the individuals who blew the whistle on this issue is out of a job, while the other is not entitled to do his job appropriately because he drew attention to this matter. The Minister indicated that if there were problems they would be addressed, and that procedures had been tightened up. The problem with his statement is that he also told us there were no problems with the procedures in the first instance. We are telling him again that there were problems with procedures, as has been acknowledged by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Garda Professional Standards Unit and many other organisations. There is still a problem and the Minister has not addressed it or given a commitment to do so, as he said he would.

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