Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."

This Bill has at its core the objective of making the political system more democratic and accountable. Unfortunately, this week it has been shown yet again how badly we need real reform. The Garda Commissioner was pushed aside, following a series of deeply suspicious events. Each element of this story has emerged drip by drip and there is not a person anywhere who believes everything is now out in public. Even the Government’s most craven supporters concede that we are facing a profound crisis which touches on one of our most important institutions. In the face of this crisis we have for months seen a strategy of attacking opponents, false claims left on the record, a reluctance to investigate serious allegations and an absolute refusal to accept even the most basic principles of democratic accountability.

This week the Minister for Justice and Equality went into hiding. Instead of taking responsibility, he limited himself to a couple of carefully scripted appearances in this Chamber. For only the second time in our history, the head of the police force resigned and did so following an approach by a senior official at the request of the Taoiseach. By any definition, this is a major public issue, yet the Minister did not give a single interview. He hid from public sight entirely on Monday and Tuesday. Worst of all, we, as Members of the Oireachtas but not members of the Government, had no powers to force him to be address this fundamental issue. We have met for four days this week and the questions we were allowed to ask about the departure of the Garda Commissioner were limited to two sessions of Leaders' Questions, with the Taoiseach falling back on his now traditional approach of doing everything possible not to answer questions.

If ever there was proof that we had one of the weakest parliaments in the democratic world it was seen this week. The only reason much of what has happened emerged is the only committees not chaired by Government Members asserted their independence. This is very important. Committees such as the Committee of Public Accounts which is not controlled by the Government is one of the few which are asserting their independence of the Executive. The other committees are controlled by the Executive through their Chairmen.

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