Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Fitzgerald has a very difficult job ahead of her, particularly if she tries to do what needs to be done. There are incredible problems within the police force. If she manages to turn the force around and make it one of which we can be proud, it will be a wonderful achievement. Accountability is not something the Garda Síochána does. Transparency is missing and we do not really know how they operate much of the time. We hardly know the rules they work to and we do not know if these have been human rights proofed. We have been shocked by what we have found out in the past 18 months as a result of information brought forward by the whistleblowers, serving members of the Garda and members of the public. There have been issues around drugs where we have serving members actually facilitating the sale of drugs on an ongoing basis. It is very frightening. There is evidence that racial profiling takes place. The dogs in the street know that. When we challenged the former Minister about this matter, we were told the then Garda Commissioner said it did not happen so that was okay for him.

I hope the new Minister will look a little deeper. I do not think the Minister's job will be rubber-stamping all that comes her way. She needs to challenge everything she hears and take an entire new look at how everything is done - covert surveillance and the use of informants off the books. The challenges she faces are just so big. Professor Dermot Walsh and whistleblowers such as Sergeant Maurice McCabe and John Wilson need to be listened to. The new Garda Commissioner must come from outside the State. An entire new hierarchy is needed in the police force because the hierarchy that is there is contaminated; there are too many problems there. I wish the new Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, well. We will challenge her day and night but with respect at all times.

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