Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister favoured the Rits report over the Verrimus report and undermined the latter.

No. 17 - he has not sought or received confirmations or assurances from the Army and gardaí regarding an assessment as to whether authorised or non-authorised surveillance took place with regard to the bugging of GSOC's offices;

No. 18 - he eventually ordered a weak review by Mr. Justice Cooke but gave him no judicial powers and again bypassed the Commission of Investigations Act 2004;

No. 19 - the Minister accused Maurice McCabe of not co-operating in the House which he has withdrawn today;

No. 20 - he still did not apologise for the derogatory comments he made on the day the reports came out when he said that the whistleblowers' allegations were "seriously inaccurate and without foundation";

No. 21 - he refused to include specific Garda whistleblowing procedures in the Protected Disclosures Bill until there was more political pressure and they are being tacked on now;

No. 22 - he falsely reported on RTE that Sergeant McCabe released to the public private data that he should not accessed. He gave it to Members of the Oireachtas which was within his remit, he did not put it in the public domain. Neither did the Minister call on the Commissioner to withdraw his use of the term "disgusting" in regard to the whistleblowers;

No. 23 - the Sean Guerin paper review regarding the allegations by Maurice McCabe was without statutory basis;

No. 24 - the Minister was not concerned about the leak to Paul Reynolds before the Cabinet had even seen the report and the many leaks from gardaí to media. No one seems to be worrying about all the leaks from the gardaí but the Minister was worried about the leak from GSOC and leaks from the whistleblowers;

No. 25 - it is still noteworthy that Dermot Walsh, probably one of the best experts on policing in the country, recently emphasised again that the penalty points example is important because it demonstrates the lack of consistency and fairness in the application of the rule of the law in the State by An Garda Síochána. He emphasised the lack of management structures, training - the same sort of criticisms as in the Morris report - and the pattern of failings within senior Garda management, and the Minister has presided over this;

No. 26 - Professor Walsh also emphasised the lack of transparency - the Garda Inspectorate found that the policy regarding fixed charge notice cancellations was purposely not made public;

No. 27 - in this House the Minister has denigrated citizens exercising their legal right to protest at Corrib Gas as "tourist protestors" intent on "sabotaging jobs" and followed the last Fianna Fáil justice Minister in refusing to permit GSOC to initiate a section 106 investigation into policing issues at Corrib when we asked him to do so;

No. 28 - on 26 February in reply to Deputy Róisín Shortall, who asked about the Commissioner's "disgusting" remark, the Minister said "I have not read the transcript and do not know the context in which the Commissioner made his comment". Does the Minister think the people are stupid?;

No. 29 - Judge Smithwick's description of the Garda Síochána as valuing loyalty over honesty and truth sadly applied to the relationship that the Minister had with the Commissioner and, sadly, it looks like it also relates to the relationship that the Taoiseach has with the Minister; and,

No. 30 - as Gene Kerrigan said last Sunday, a fish rots from the head and the rot starts with the Minister.

The Minister has apologised to the whistleblowers today and has committed to an independent police board but when we introduced the police Bill last July he said that it would be undemocratic to oversee the police with an independent police board. The Taoiseach told us today that the Minister was the first to recommend strengthening GSOC but when we recommended that in our Bill he rubbished it.

With respect to the serious allegations regarding criminality and serious corruption which the Minister thinks have been dismissed, he should remember that they have only been examined by assistant commissioner O'Mahoney in a report now discredited whereas the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Garda Inspectorate's report were only asked to look into the system, not these allegations.

I have emphasised that the Minister seems to have played down the penalty points system as being only a small part of what the gardaí do but it is symptomatic of everything else they do. We have heard many sad stories from the public about their poor experience at the hands of some gardaí and they are nothing short of frightening. We have got information from ex-gardaí and serving gardaí and it made for difficult listening.

A guy I do not know from Adam sent me a note the day after I addressed the Minister here on 26 February. He told me that I spoke for the people who are shy and cannot express themselves. He also told me that I spoke for the people who cannot speak out. He told me that I spoke for the people who keep their heads down and fear authority.

He told me I spoke for the people who are hurt and sad and that I spoke for him.

Does it bother the Minister that he is the head of justice in Ireland while so many people feel they do not get justice and that the Minister does not represent them? I am sorry to say that while I find the Minister a very able man and very intelligent, it looks as though he is not fit for office, and he should not be here any more. I will be dead honest and say I will actually miss him when he is gone - I really will, and I am genuine about this - but he should be gone.

See this speech in context