Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

First of all, I would like to put on the record my appreciation of the 41 years of service given by the Commissioner, Martin Callinan, to the service of the community and the public as a member of An Garda Síochána. It must have been a very difficult decision for the Commissioner to announce his retirement. During those 41 years Commissioner Callinan dealt with very serious issues to do with the safety of this State and the safety of citizens in dealing with members of subversive organisations and serious criminals. I thank him for his service to the Irish State.

With regard to the matter I brought to the Deputy's attention and that of Deputy Adams, the Government made a number of decisions arising from that - in accepting the retirement of the Commissioner; in the appointment of the assistant commissioner as an interim Commissioner; in making arrangements for filling the post as a permanent position through an open competition; in the establishment, with terms of reference to follow, of a commission of investigation into the issue of tape recordings in many Garda stations since the 1980s and the potential impact of the contents of some of those tapes in respect of cases being heard, cases going through the courts, cases to be followed or maybe cases that were already dealt with; and in committing the Government to establishing an independent authority for the Garda Síochána that is appropriate for the needs of this country while maintaining political accountability to the Oireachtas. These are decisions that were made this morning by the Government.

We have already decided in regard to the report of the inspectorate into penalty points. There will be statements and questions and answers this Thursday for all Members, led and finished by the Minister for Justice and Equality. The Minister has recognised the value of the information provided by the whistleblowers in bringing this to public attention. He has also said that many of the other allegations that were made have not yet been corroborated. I have dealt with that myself on a number of occasions.

The answer to Deputy Martin's question is that the Minister for Justice and Equality will deal with this matter on Thursday when he addresses the response to the penalty points issue in the report provided by the Garda inspectorate.

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