Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to have the opportunity to contribute to the debate and to put on the record my absolute confidence in the Minister for Justice and Equality. He has been the most reforming and active Minister for Justice and Equality we have had for a long time. I come from Templemore, where we regularly meet members of An Garda Síochána of all ranks. I have had numerous discussions with them and the general public. They fully support the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter.

Deputy Niall Collins spoke about his loyalty and all our loyalty to the Garda Síochána. He complimented it and said we all had a role to play in that regard. I remind the Deputy that not only is that the case, but the Opposition has a duty of care to all members of the Garda Síochána and not just to a select few. The same applies to all members of the general public.

I am amazed at the amount of time the Opposition has dedicated to castigating the Garda Síochána, bearing in mind that it has more than 13,000 members. It has devoted so much time and attention to a former member and a serving member. I believe the Opposition is really playing politics with An Garda Síochána. Opposition Members might say that I would say that. However, I can give three examples.

The tradition of Fianna Fáil has always been to berate a Fine Gael Minister for Justice. It did so with Mrs. Nora Owen in terms of zero tolerance. It tried to hound her out of office. It is now hoping that history will repeat itself by making a prolonged attack on the Minister for Justice and Equality, something he is well able to deal with comprehensively and competently. In doing that it does not care about the damage it is doing to the Garda Síochána. I have spoken to members of the Garda Síochána and the general public, who all feel the distraction is doing untold damage to the force and needs to stop. This afternoon, I plead with the Opposition to bring this to an end and to give its support to improving the Garda Síochána and restoring its members' confidence as the Minister has done since he took office.

Prior to the Minister coming into power, we had no Garda recruitment in Templemore; the previous Government had ended recruitment. The Minister has introduced fresh blood and recruitment is recommencing in the Garda College in Templemore, which is very welcome. The Garda did not have adequate resources - for example, there was no investment in Garda patrol cars, which the Minister has corrected. He is giving the Garda Síochána the necessary backup and facilities it so richly deserves as it looks after our interests.

The leader of Fianna Fáil has been at this matter non-stop in the recent weeks, berating the Minister and thereby doing untold damage to the Garda Síochána. I ask Deputy Martin or his spokesperson to say exactly when he found out about all of this, and to confirm or deny that when members of his party came to him some years ago, he dismissed what they were saying. Now he is conveniently jumping on a bandwagon set rolling by Deputy Wallace regarding the allegations that are being made. He did want to know about them when his own party members came to him. Now he wants to jump on the bandwagon.

I will give an example of the damage that has done. During last night's "Tonight with Vincent Browne" programme, Mr. Browne made scurrilous allegations about the Garda College. I call on him to apologise forthwith to the management and teaching staff of the Garda College in Templemore. He gave out about them being locked away down there for three or four years - he could not even get his facts right. He then referred to weirdo legal students down there, which is appalling stuff. People such as him are jumping on the bandwagon and doing untold damage to the Garda Síochána, which is disgraceful.

I call on Opposition Members to bring this to a conclusion by binding together and giving the Garda Síochána the backing it deserves. They need to stop the ongoing political nonsense in which they are engaging.

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