Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy's difficulty is he cannot make up his mind, depending on which day of the week it is, whether he should come to this House and excoriate members of the Garda force or make a pretence of being supportive of members of the Garda force. In the meantime, the Deputy stayed extraordinarily quiet when one of his colleagues, who sits behind him in this House, greeted some of those members with whom his party was associated upon their release for being involved in the death of Detective Garda McCabe. The Deputy should make up his mind what the narrative is, whether he is critical on a daily basis of the gardaí, supportive of them or just willing to spin whatever line he thinks will get him on the broadcast media or get a headline. The reality is we need to take the politics out of An Garda Síochána. If there is a problem with morale, it is because of the daily onslaught in this House by members of the Opposition on members of the Garda force where there have been difficulties within the force. The Garda Inspectorate report set out those difficulties. It was a report I sought, but when the report was published, Members opposite me sought to smear every member of An Garda Síochána with having been engaged in wrongdoing, and then they accused me of behaving in a manner that impacts on the morale of the force.

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