Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I find the Government's proposal to appoint a senior counsel to consider whether an independent inquiry is required a bit difficult to take after all that has happened. After 18 months of the penalty points episode we certainly have no doubts that an independent public inquiry is required to establish the truth - an independent and public inquiry into the penalty points episode, into the allegations of surveillance of GSOC, and into reported malpractice and corruption in the force over a long period.

One does not need to be a rocket scientist to assume that justice is not being administered fairly in this country. I am not saying it was before the Minister's time, I am saying it is still happening on his watch. From when the whistleblowers first brought forward their information, the Minister's first instinct was to rubbish them. We brought the information to the Chamber and he rubbished us. He set up a report and he had the Garda Commissioner rubbish that on 7 December 2012. It was a case of minimise, dismiss and rubbish all the way.

We eventually got the internal reports and we issued an 18 page document to highlight the inadequacies of a report which was the result of gardaí inspecting gardaí. The Minister rubbished us again. He attacked us personally and he went his usual way of dismissing and minimising anyone who had the audacity to challenge him.

The Garda professional standards unit report contained some good recommendations and the Minister decided to pick out the ones he liked and to forget the ones he did not like so much. The main recommendation was the publication of a fixed charge manual within three months, but this has not been implemented. Perhaps it is on the way. It recommended an independent audit but we got an internal one. The Garda Commissioner came to the joint committee to tell us that the result of the audit was 100% perfect. It reminded me of Mugabe. The report recommended a separate investigation into the abuse of the mandatory comment box because this was at the heart of how the penalty points system corroded. This has not happened either.

The Minister did not cover himself in glory on "Prime Time"; what he said was personal and political. He knows it had nothing to do with him as Minister administering his ministry of justice in a proper manner. It was interesting to hear some of the recent comments about his reservations with regard to the policing Bill. We brought forward a Bill to address many of the issues which have come into the public domain of late. We considered the idea of an independent board with monitoring and supervisory oversight functions. The Minister rubbished it. We looked at the idea of a diffusion of power and the depoliticisation of the police. The Garda Commissioner is answerable to the Dáil, which amounts to nothing because in reality he is only answerable to the Minister, who is one man from one party. Policing in Ireland is over-politicised. We recommended a root and branch review of the force, something that has never happened.

I refer to what the Minister said in reply to our recommendations:

The 2005 Act provides that the Commissioner is accountable to the Minister for the performance of his functions and those of the force. In turn, as Minister, I am accountable to this House.

If that is the case, I am surprised he is still here:

In terms of accountability, it is worthwhile recording that in addition to the Minister of the day being answerable to the House for the Garda Síochána, the Garda Commissioner is, under the 2005 Act, the Accounting Officer for the Garda Síochána. In that capacity he is liable to appear before the Committee of Public Accounts. In addition, the 2005 Act established the independent Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission which is empowered to carry out independent investigations into Garda conduct. That Act also established the Garda Síochána Inspectorate which provides expert advice on achieving the highest levels of efficiency and effectiveness in the operation and administration of the force.

I remind the Minister that it states, "the highest levels".

The Minister further stated that the accountability of the Garda Síochána has been significantly strengthened by means of all these measures. The Minister told us then that oversight was in safe hands and everything was well. Now he is telling us that some modifications are required.

Perhaps he will now consider that he may have got it wrong when he rubbished the Bill I brought forward.

The GSOC Boylan report and its annual report last summer were both damning of the lack of co-operation the commission received from the Garda Síochána. GSOC observed that many of the recommendations set out in the Morris report of 2004 had not been implemented and, moreover, that the sorry tale of Garda involvement in the Kieran Boylan affair bore a striking resemblance to the goings on in Donegal that led to the establishment of the Morris tribunal. The Garda Commissioner completely dismissed the seriousness of GSOC's special report when he appeared before the Oireachtas committee. He relied heavily on the excuse of safeguarding State security and combatting terrorism when defending some of the force's unorthodox actions and the clandestine nature of those actions. Security concerns, he stated, might sometimes prevent him from co-operating with the oversight mechanism of GSOC. Where have we heard that before?

The Commissioner also defended the Garda practice of demanding to know the relevance of GSOC's requests for information before it will agree to provide that information. There is absolutely no legal reason that GSOC should have to explain why the evidence it is seeking is relevant to any investigation it is undertaking. The new protocol arrangement the Minister introduced last September, which was supposed to improve the exchange of information between the Garda and GSOC, was only soft law and involves no element of compulsion. It is another example of weak application of the law. The Commissioner came in and told us we should have trust and confidence in him and that he will give GSOC information when he sees fit.

It gets worse and worse. The Minister would not let GSOC investigate the Roma children affair, deciding instead that it would make more sense to have a weaker review. There will not be any examination of Garda racial profiling under the terms of reference he has given the Ombudsman for Children. The Minister came in here and rubbished the local people who protested at the Corrib gas field. There were more complaints to GSOC about that operation than about any other issue in the history of the State. When we asked the Minister to give GSOC the task of examining what was happening there under section 106 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, he was not interested in the truth. His concern was with covering up, minimising and dismissing.

The Fine Gael Party used to pride itself on being the party of law and order. How in God's name can it stand over that? The Minister avoids using strong legislation in order to avoid seeking out the truth and having to reveal it. He would not ask the Commissioner if the latter had engaged in lawful surveillance in case he was told something he had to stand over. He would not put the same questions to G2. He would not even ask whether any effort had been made to check for rogue elements within the force in general or G2 in particular who might have engaged in unlawful surveillance. The Minister did not want the answers to these questions.

GSOC made strenuous requests for access to the PULSE system last September in the wake of the Boylan report and its annual report. The Minister refused to grant it, before finally relenting a few weeks ago under political pressure. He would not allow GSOC to examine the penalty points issue until, again under political pressure, he allowed an investigation under section 102, but not section 106, of he 2005 Act. The Minister's prime motive in all of this is political survival. Sad to say, his prime motives have very little to do with the administration of justice.

Many things have gone on in this State for a long time that leave much to be desired. They were happening long before the Minister's time, but it is disappointing that there is still no appetite for the truth. Gemma O'Doherty lost her job at the Irish Independentbecause she had the audacity to challenge the Commissioner. We received an e-mail this morning from a nephew of Fr. Niall Molloy, the priest whose murder has been the subject of extensive research by Ms O'Doherty. He states:

For almost 30 years people have hidden behind a wall of silence, deceit, corruption and cover-up. Time for the light of justice to shine on them and reveal them to the people for what they are. Many, many people have gone to their graves overshadowed by this heartache.

If the Minister stays in power and the Commissioner remains in place, then this Parliament is a sham.

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