Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

What is crucial is that the evidence for allegations made is carefully and properly examined. Allegations ultimately may be proved to be true, partially true or false. Where false, the original allegation need not be malicious in any way but may derive from a mistaken perception or understanding of events. Life is complicated and not everything is simply black and white. As Minister, I am solemnly bound to protect the rights of all citizens, be they gardaí or anyone else, and to behave at all times in accordance with the laws. I also wish to make clear that I have no animosity towards Sergeant McCabe. I have previously acknowledged that important changes have been implemented with regard to the fixed charge notice system arising from matters raised by Sergeant McCabe. I have absolutely no wish to have a continuing public or indeed private dispute with a serving member of An Garda Síochána. I believe it is of crucial importance that whistleblowers are treated with respect and their allegations taken seriously. I will return at a later stage to one matter relating to the ticket charge issue.

Unfortunately, today a situation has been reached in which other allegations made by Sergeant McCabe have become caught up in partisan and divisive political debate. If all sides of the House can agree on one thing today, surely it is that the legal arrangements for dealing with Garda whistleblowers have failed when these matters are being dealt with across the floor of this House and where the Deputies opposite seek political advantage and apparently do not mind what damage they might do to An Garda Síochána and those who serve in it. In the case of Sinn Féin, I will simply observe that old habits die hard. However, I must state frankly to Deputy Martin that whatever political disagreements I may have had with him or with the Fianna Fáil Party over the years, many of the former statesmen in his party would be appalled by the cavalier attitude he has taken to An Garda Síochána, against which he has made the most serious allegations without waiting to establish the truth or otherwise thereof. I regret, in particular, the lack of regard he has shown to the Office of the Garda Commissioner, which at present is occupied by a person appointed by the Government of which he was a member and which no doubt made the appointment on the basis of its full confidence in him.

In fairness to members of An Garda Síochána, I cannot simply take at face value serious allegations made against them and assume they are guilty until proven innocent. This is not the approach of our legal system and nor is it compatible with concepts of constitutional justice and human rights.

I also have to be careful in my presentation to this House today not to stray into areas that are matters in contention currently between Sergeant McCabe and the State and which are the subject of court proceedings taken by him. I hope Members of the House will appreciate that, during this debate and questions, we all have to respect the existence of two sets of legal proceedings which Sergeant McCabe has taken seeking damages against the State, one set initiated in 2009 which includes the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform as a named defendant and a second set initiated in 2011 in which the Minister for Justice and Equality is not named as a defendant. In both sets of proceedings the Garda Commissioner is so named.

With regard to the allegations which Deputy Martin made in the House last Thursday and which he has repeated at every opportunity both inside and outside the House since then, I want to deal first with the entirely incorrect assertion that nothing had been done in regard to a series of serious allegations involving Garda misbehaviour. The Garda Síochána Act 2005 - introduced by the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Michael McDowell, into this House contains clear legal procedures for dealing with alleged misbehaviour by members of An Garda Síochána. I am not going to make much of the fact that the behaviour which Deputy Martin characterised as maladministration of justice took place long before I took office, but the key fact is that all of the cases brought to my attention on 23 January 2012 occurred in the 2007 to 2008 period and they were all addressed under the arrangements which the Government of which he was a member put in place, in light of the findings of the Morris tribunal. Far from nothing being done, it seems to me from my review of the papers relating to this matter, that those procedures were scrupulously observed.

In 2008, Sergeant McCabe made a written complaint to Garda headquarters alleging neglect of duty and other malpractice by gardaí at Bailieboro Garda station, and failure by the superintendent to respond properly when Sergeant McCabe had brought these concerns to his attention. Sergeant McCabe also claimed that he had been victimised. A chief superintendent was appointed to investigate these allegations. Later in 2008, the then Garda Commissioner received an anonymised complaint, which turned out to be from Sergeant McCabe, from the then Garda confidential recipient, Brian McCarthy, making allegations in regard to malpractice at Bailieboro Garda station, and in regard to the failure of senior gardaí at the station to respond to these concerns when they had been brought to their attention. An assistant commissioner was appointed to investigate these allegations.

The allegations covered cases such as the failure to notify a court in a child abduction case that the accused was already on bail facing serious charge; failure to properly investigate several cases; failure to forward a report relating to poor standards and conditions at Bailieboro station; falsification of records; failure to deal with sexual harassment of a female garda; and the giving of a direction to Sergeant McCabe to cease assessing and monitoring probationary gardaí. In 2009, the Garda Commissioner received a further report from the confidential recipient, in which Sergeant McCabe alleged harassment and victimisation arising by the making by him of the first report. Later in 2009, a further report was received from the confidential recipient again relating to harassment. The assistant commissioner, along with the chief superintendent, was appointed to investigate these allegations too.

In case Deputy Martin is concerned that this was not the correct procedure, it might be helpful to point out that Sergeant McCabe in 2009 wrote to the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Dermot Ahern, alerting him to the fact that he had made a complaint about malpractice and corruption in the Bailieboro Garda district. In this letter, Sergeant McCabe claimed that although a preliminary report into his complaint had revealed bad practice and procedure, the chief superintendent of the division had publicly rubbished the complaint, and the sergeant called on the Minister to ask for an independent person to oversee the investigation. The Minister replied, through his private secretary, that the conduct of the investigation was a matter for the Garda Commissioner, in accordance with the Garda Síochána Act 2005, that the Minister had no role in directing the Commissioner in such operational matters, and that, in the circumstances, the most appropriate action was to allow the Commissioner to complete his work and let due process take its course. I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not criticising the response of my predecessor to Sergeant McCabe although I accept, of course, that it might have been helpful to Deputy Martin if he had been aware of it.

The investigation by the assistant commissioner over a lengthy period culminated in the submission of ten volumes of evidence to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, who - of course independently - directed that no prosecutions were warranted.

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