Michael McNamara (Clare, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Garda Inspectorate on its report. It has done the State a considerable service in producing a very detailed report with a long list of recommendations. I thank and commend the Minister, Deputy Shatter, on having commissioned that report. In an attempt to politicise this debate it has been overlooked that the Minister, Deputy Shatter commissioned the report at a time when much less controversy surrounded this issue. The report completely vindicates the whistleblowers and the role they played, saying but for the amount of public scrutiny that was on the fixed points penalty system none of this would have arisen. That public scrutiny arose out of the fact that those whistleblowers did what they did. They did what they did because they felt no other option was open to them. It is very important that this House, this system of government and this Government vindicates whistleblowers. I have every confidence that the Government and Legislature will do so in the form of legislation which has already passed Second Stage in this House, to the debate on which many of us had the opportunity to contribute.

The report of the Garda Inspectorate vindicated to an extent the role of whistleblowers, particularly stating that this issue would not have been examined but for the public controversy and scrutiny which arose. I am not surprised and am very glad to note that the Minister, Deputy Shatter today put on the record of the House a clarification on the role of whistleblowers, and the two whistleblowers in particular. I greatly welcome that. One of the main recommendations of the Garda Inspectorate was that the Department of Justice and Equality immediately convene a chair of a criminal justice working group comprising the Department of Justice and Equality, the Courts Service, the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority to oversee and facilitate the implementation of the recommendations in this report. It is key that all those recommendations be implemented to ensure public confidence is restored in the fixed point penalty system.

Like all issues, the story has moved on somewhat, and very quickly, since this report was published to yesterday's Government statement that a statutory commission of investigation is being established to examine the surveillance of telephone calls in and out of Garda stations. That came as a major shock to many people in this country, perhaps especially to members of the legal community, many of whom were on television last night, who would have been making and receiving telephone calls to and from those Garda stations. It is in the public domain that Ennis Garda station was among many stations which were the subject of an eTenders notice in 2007 for the provision of surveillance equipment.

It is a complete shock to know that surveillance equipment was used to monitor telephone calls in and out of the Garda station. Clearly, the expenditure of public funds was authorised for the provision of that surveillance system in 2007, and among the issues to be examined by the commission of investigation is who cleared the expenditure, who knew the expenditure would be taken by the State and, most importantly, who knew what the surveillance equipment would be used for.

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