Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo, mar aon leis an mBille a bhí ann anuraidh. Tá sé tábhachtach agus tráthúil go bhfuilimid ag plé é seo agus go bhfuil sin tosaithe, mar tá gá le hathrú suntasach, agus go dtarlódh an t-athrú sin go tapaidh.

I congratulate the Minister on her promotion. I have a degree of confidence as yet that some of the actions that are required will be carried out. I wish her well in that and hope my faith in her delivering it will not be let down.

There is a job of work to do and it is not party-political. Society in general has to have a huge degree of confidence in the police force that is preventing and detecting crime, given it has a lot of powers invested in it. If we do not do what is intended in this Bill, with the addition of whatever changes are required on Committee Stage, when my party would put forward a number of amendments, then we would be standing still and letting down the public. We would also be letting down those within An Garda Síochána and those who are now, regretfully, out of the force but who brought us to this stage, namely, the whistleblowers, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.

The last major reform of An Garda Síochána and the last change to the institutions that administer and oversee the force was also prompted by whistleblowers. It is a pity it has to be people such as the most recent whistleblowers who take the flak for a number of years before the institutions of the State listen to them. Thankfully, we are now listening to them. I thank Deputy Wallace for putting this before us again.

In 2005, during the discussions on the Garda Síochána Act with the then Minister, Mr. McDowell, in the House and in committee, I argued that we needed something similar to what had happened in the North in regard to the Patten Commission. I argued that we needed to set up institutions that were more independent than those being set up at the time and that we needed changes in the structures of An Garda Síochána which would reflect more modernity than was then reflected within it. At the time, the then Minister argued this was wrong, that what had happened in Donegal was an isolated case and that there was not a level of corruption, incompetence or bad faith within An Garda Síochána which would warrant what I was calling for.

I do not believe the level of malpractice which we have seen to date is at an end, although we have seen it in isolated incidents. The vast majority of the members of An Garda Síochána are hard working, diligent, committed to the job, courteous and genuinely concerned about the communities they are sent to protect and to serve. I have had occasion in recent times to engage with a number of members of An Garda Síochána at different levels and every one of them was professional in their manner. However, like every large organisation, there are always bad apples. The job of those in this House is to ensure that whatever system we have to regulate large institutions, especially one which has the level of power of An Garda Síochána, would have a proper oversight method which is independent and can be above politics, so we can hold these institutions to account when mistakes happen or when crime is exposed within them.

I welcome the Bill. It is important that we put it into committee as quickly as possible, deal with it there and make it the best piece of legislation we can. This will hopefully address some of the flaws within An Garda Síochána, although other problems will only be addressed when the State properly resources the Garda with the most modern equipment and other resources to ensure it can prevent and detect crime in our society. As I said, we hope to engage with the Bill on Committee Stage, when every Member of the House can put forward their ideas to ensure we have international best practice and ensure people look at this State as being an example to the world. At the moment, we seem to be a laughing stock to the world.

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