Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The revelations and scandals surrounding allegations of Garda malpractice, corruption, cover-ups and wrongdoing are of the most serious nature. We have had in very quick succession quite shocking revelations about the extent of these practices within An Garda Síochána and allegations regarding the apparent complicity of the Department of Justice and Equality and Governments and Ministers for Justice of the day in this malpractice, the cover-up of malpractice or the failure to take these allegations of criminality, malpractice and dysfunction within An Garda Síochána seriously. The stakes could not be higher.

If citizens do not believe the administration of justice is carried out fairly and impartially or is applied to all citizens equally, why should any citizen respect the law? Why should any citizen feel he or she has a stake in society? There can be little doubt that the succession of scandals and the abysmal failure of the Department and the Government to deal with the allegations in a timely fashion and to be generally perceived as guilty of dragging their feet, failing to take seriously the allegations, downplaying them and demonising the people who made them has shredded the credibility of the justice system and the Garda in the eyes of huge number of our citizens in a way that can be only seriously damaging to people's faith in the justice system and to the coherence and fairness of our society and Government.

Following everything that has happened, including the resignation of the previous Minister and the assumption to office of the new Minister and the appointment of the temporary Garda Commissioner, Noirín O'Sullivan we have had much talk and rhetoric and many promises about how everything will change and about the objective of widespread root and branch culture change in the force to ensure brave, heroic whistleblowers such as Sergeant Maurice McCabe and former garda, John Wilson, and the whistleblowers in the Chamber who brought the allegations to the notice of the Chamber and the public and who were denigrated in the most suspicious circumstances are heard. Information was passed from the Garda Commissioner to the Minister for Justice and Equality and used to tarnish the character of whistleblowers in this House. Mysteriously, another Member, Deputy Clare Daly, was arrested at the time she brought up these allegations.

This is serious stuff but we have had promises and rhetoric about change, yet ten minutes before I came to the House, I spoke on the telephone with Sergeant Maurice McCabe, the man who has been at the centre of these issues and who was the courageous individual without whose actions we would not be having this debate and we would not be hearing all the promises of change and reform in the Garda. Sergeant McCabe said that in the past month he has experienced 13 instances of harassment by colleagues such that he felt unable to go work last Monday because he is stressed, fearful and so on. Since all these allegations emerged, the person at the centre of them is afraid to go to work, is stressed and has become unwell because the harassment continues. He expressed shock, surprise and dismay on the telephone at the evidence given by the interim Commissioner, Noirín O'Sullivan, to the Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality this afternoon where she apparently claimed - I did not hear it - that senior Garda management is in regular, if not daily, contact with Mr. McCabe. He says that is absolutely not true, that he is receiving no support and that the only contact he has had with senior management was with an assistant Commissioner who briefly discussed with him access to the PULSE system. He has had no support and virtually no communication from senior management. What the hell is going on? We have had promises of change and reform of the culture but the person whose bravery and heroism has brought all this to public attention is still being harassed and is getting no support from senior management. Is it just all talk or are the Government parties serious about this stuff? I appeal to them to look into this.

This is not only about the bugging of GSOC, the bugging of telephone calls and the allegations by whistleblowers about malpractice in the Garda, as many other issues need to investigated. Other Members and I have many times raised the case of Cynthia Owen who was raped and abused at the age of 11 and made pregnant. Her baby was murdered but nobody has ever been arrested or prosecuted for those horrendous crimes. She has appealed for the establishment of a commission of a investigation to look into her case. She alleges senior gardaí were involved but successive Governments have failed to give her the commission of investigation she requires to look into this. I hope the Government will include that case in its commission of investigation.

The issues go beyond the Garda. I have previously mentioned the shocking case of the journalist, Gemma O'Doherty, who four weeks after she looked into an allegation that the Garda Commissioner had penalty points quashed was compulsorily dismissed from her job with Independent News & Media. Does all this extend into the media as well?

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