Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Garda Síochána (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill. I pay tribute to Deputy Wallace for bringing forward this legislation. As we know, similar legislation was brought forward last year. The families of the many people throughout the country who have suffered grievous wrongs at the hands of gardaí and Garda malpractice attended the House for the debate last year. Yet, here we are 12 months on debating another Garda (amendment) Bill. The same families will come to the House tonight and tomorrow night. It is wrong and the process should not have taken this amount of time.

I understand the Bill may be accepted by the Government. I hope that is the case because then perhaps we can begin to see the necessary changes.

Too many people throughout the country have suffered. Too many families have suffered and continue to suffer because of wrongdoing, malpractice and illegality carried out by gardaí. This is a symptom and the result of an organisation having unaccountable power. This is at the root of the problem and this is what the legislation seeks to end or achieve. Any organisation, no matter what, in any State which has vast amounts of power and which is unaccountable will behave in such a fashion. It is an institutional problem within the Garda. This is a problem because individuals within the Garda believe they can act with impunity or in a way that impinges on citizens' rights. This, in turn, destroys citizens' lives and forces families to suffer for years afterwards because of certain events.

I know one such family personally and I have discussed their case. I am referring to the family of Shane Tuohey. He died many years ago in Clara, County Offaly. It appears he was assaulted and fell into a river or was thrown in. A search for his body lasted several days. The Garda actively hindered the search for his body.

I have participated in several tragic searches for people who were lost in Donegal. The Garda has facilitated those searches, co-ordinated them and provided personnel for them. Whenever I hear of a tragedy in the country involving someone's body going missing or lost in a river I think of Shane Tuohey's family because gardaí actively hindered that search and, after his body was found, they hindered getting to the facts of what had happened. That wrong continues to this day. The Minister must create a situation whereby families such as the Tuoheys can have their stories heard, secure a proper investigation and receive some closure following the events. There are too many families like them throughout the country and too many individuals who have suffered in the same way.

I submitted to the previous Minister, Deputy Shatter, evidence of a District Court judge who used confidential information provided by the Garda to secure an injunction against individuals in Donegal 16 years ago. That is still in place and they cannot get it removed. What was the response of the then Minister, Deputy Shatter? In one of his last days in office he wrote to me hiding behind constitutional provisions and stated that he could not investigate the matter or have any input into the case of a complaint against a District Court judge. However, he could investigate what the Garda did to provide the information to the judge which allowed him to make the injunction. These things need to be dealt with. I will resubmit the evidence to the current Minister and I hope she will consider it in a more open manner. These are the type of issues that must be addressed.

For too long in this country there has been a tendency to attack the messenger. We have seen whistleblowers attacked and we have heard of the ongoing attacks on Sergeant Maurice McCabe over the allegations he has made, allegations which have proved true and which have led to the formation of a commission of investigation. We see this all the time and we have seen it too many times.

In Donegal we had the Morris tribunal. When the Morris tribunal was running the whole concern within the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, officialdom and the political hierarchy in this House and in the country was to ensure that the matter was contained within Donegal. The view was that it was a Donegal problem, it was up there and up there they are different and such things only went on up there. However, we know now that these things went on throughout the country.

An opportunity was lost with the Morris tribunal to deal with the matter once and for all and to do so properly. Now, we have an opportunity to deal with it again. I call on the Minister to ensure that the matter is dealt with properly, to ensure that we have a Garda service and a police service in this State that people can be proud of, one that the members who serve can be proud of and one that is accountable to an independent body and to every citizen in the State. That is vital and it is what is needed at this stage.

This legislation addresses all the things that have been highlighted as being wrong with An Garda Síochána. It provides for the appointment of an independent Garda Síochána board. It strengthens the role of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. Deputy Wallace has said that the Bill needs amendment on Committee Stage, if it is accepted, to strengthen the provisions further. That is vital. The situation whereby GSOC must use gardaí to investigate allegations against gardaí must end. GSOC must have its own investigators and investigative powers and must be totally independent of the Garda when it is investigating allegations of wrongdoing.

We need to increase the autonomy and independence of An Garda Síochána and this is provided for in the Bill. A power-sharing arrangement between the board, the Minister and the Garda Commissioner is proposed. We must have direct accountability of the Commissioner to the board rather than to the Minister. We must break the political links we have seen in the House, those used by the former Minister, Deputy Shatter, in making allegations against Deputy Wallace and used to make public confidential information that he was provided with by the Commissioner.

These things must end and things must change from now on. That is not an easy task and I realise it will take time. However, this legislation has been introduced and it can provide a road along the way. Deputy Clare Daly suggested we need a commission along the lines of that which dealt with the Magdalen laundries, whereby people and their families have the opportunity to tell their stories and have their stories recognised and investigated. That is the only way to bring closure and to bring an end to the pain that these families have suffered. We have the opportunity to do that now and we should ensure it happens.

Throughout the past year when the issue was debated all the Deputies on the Government side trotted out to say how great everything was and how wrong we were. They attacked Independent Members for raising such difficult issues. I am pleased to see that this has changed. I hope the Government side will come out tonight and tomorrow night and support this legislation. They should recognise and acknowledge everything that has gone on in the past year and what we now know. This includes revelations from the whistleblowers, the penalty points fiasco, the GSOC bugging fiasco and allegations of racial profiling within the Garda. Furthermore, we have seen the Guerin report and the subsequent commission of investigation. We need to ensure that works and is carried out properly.

I hope everyone on the Government benches will support this legislation.

The Labour Party has highlighted how it published a document in 2000 calling for a Garda authority. It has now published another document, but it did nothing while all of these allegations were being made or during the House's debates. It stood by its man when the former Minister, Deputy Shatter, defended himself in the House when it should have asked whether there was an issue that needed to be examined. For too long, the Labour Party has been the lapdog in government, standing back and letting such things happen. That can no longer be the case.

Deputy Fitzgerald has made many right statements since becoming Minister. She mentioned that she would address many of these issues. This legislation will help her along that road. It has been drafted and is ready to go. I call on her to ensure this legislation is passed, that we get an independent Garda board, that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, be changed so that it might operate independently and that we get what we need, namely, a fully and democratically accountable Garda service and, for the betterment of everyone, an end to the days of people holding unaccountable power.

See this speech in context