Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is difficult to figure out what the Labour Party stands for. The Tánaiste is continuing the narrative that the Government has been peddling all week. The message is that there is nothing to see here and we should move along. I asked the Tánaiste whether he was concerned that the Taoiseach publicly demanded of an independent office that it level with a Minister. Is he not concerned about the image that is projected when an independent ombudsman is brought into a Department and forced to express regret by way of an apology? Would he expect this to occur in the case of the Director of Public Prosecutions or any other independent office? Should the independence of the office of the GSOC not be respected?

Yesterday, I asked the chairman of the GSOC, Mr. O'Connor, if he had specifically informed the Minister for Justice and Equality that the commission had opened an investigation and inquiry into An Garda Síochána. He confirmed to me that he had done so in the briefing provided to the Minister on Monday. The Minister came to the House on Tuesday to spin the story in the opposite direction by stating there was nothing to it whereas completely contradictory evidence was presented to the joint committee yesterday. It is a disgrace that the Minister misinformed the Dáil as to the content of the information available to him. The Tánaiste is happy to continue to parrot the Minister's line. As the leader of the Labour Party, what does he stand for? Does he stand for upholding and promoting the independence of the GSOC?

This issue has knock-on consequences. As I stated, the Director of Public Prosecutions is not hauled before a Minister to explain the reason for not proceeding with a prosecution in the vilest of rape cases or where other grievous crimes have been reported. This is not good enough.

The Tánaiste did not answer my question on my party's call to establish an independent panel of experts headed by a High Court judge to examine this issue. The reason this issue is so serious is that the Garda Síochána and the GSOC are two pillars of the justice system that go to the heart of democracy. The only message we have heard from the Taoiseach and Minister for Justice and Equality since Sunday and today from the Tánaiste is that there is nothing to see here and we should move along. The body at the centre of this issue presented a different version of events to the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions yesterday.

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