Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Caoláin is very well aware that if the situation was that anybody on this side of the House could stand up and say, "I am making the following arrangements for Garda X or Garda Y", he would have a very different story to tell. As he well knows, the running of An Garda Síochána is a matter for the Garda Commissioner in so far as day-to-day operations are concerned. It is not for me to say that he must put this sergeant here or that sergeant there or these are the facilities he must make available for them. That is completely off limits to Government, as the Deputy is well aware.

I have not seen the report myself. The answer to the Deputy's question is that I did speak to the Minister for Justice and Equality this morning. I asked him if he intended to bring the Garda Inspectorate report to Government today and he answered "Yes". I asked him if it was his intention to recommend to Government that the recommendations in the report be accepted by Government. The answer to that is "Yes". I asked whether the report would be laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas and the answer to that is "Yes". I asked whether it will be debated in this House and in committee and the answer is "Yes". The fact of the matter is that what happened in the past was that recommendations about this were not acted upon. Whistleblowers did bring this into the public domain. It is now a situation where this is the first Government actually dealing with it. When it is all debated and implemented, we will have a system that is fit for purpose.

The Minister for Justice and Equality also pointed out on the floor of the House where he differed with the whistleblower in respect of the allegations about deaths of people arising from the non-enforcement of penalty points. He made the point to me this morning that he was very happy to note that Garda McCabe was in full co-operation with the Garda Inspectorate inquiry. I also expect that when the GSOC report comes before the committee and the Dáil, the whistleblowers will have co-operated, worked, engaged and discussed with the GSOC personnel on a comprehensive basis.

We need to get this right now. I hope that following the implementation of all the recommendations - from the Mahony report, the Garda Inspectorate report and the GSOC report to follow - there will be a system that is fair, accountable, transparent and not subject either to celebrity or political interference.

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