Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to comment on the Guerin report. This is first opportunity I have had to congratulate the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, on her appointment to the Department of Justice and Equality. It is one of the significant Cabinet positions and she comes to it at a difficult time. I wish her the best and in so doing, unlike the previous speaker, I pay tribute to the former Minister, Deputy Shatter. He did the State some service in his time as Minister. Ultimately, he was guilty of a political misjudgment and has paid a price for it. It would be easy to overlook many of the positive things that he achieved in the headlong rush to judgment, as demonstrated by the previous speaker.

I concur with Deputy Micheál Martin, the leader of Fianna Fáil, on the significance of having public confidence in the Garda force. In an open debate about the Garda Síochána, including its strengths and weaknesses, its failings and shortcomings and its standing in the community, there is a distinct danger that we might lose sight of the overwhelming majority of the members of the force who go to work on a daily basis to do a difficult job and do it very well. The actions of a few are in danger of being allowed to undermine the endeavour and commitment of the overwhelming majority of members of the force.

I would like to believe I am reasonably well grounded in the community and I wish to acknowledge the commitment that the overwhelming majority of members of the force bring to their job in the community, as well as the professionalism that they bring to it on a daily basis. Furthermore, I wish to acknowledge the risks they take. Unfortunately, we have seen only recently some members of the force paying the ultimate price.

Some things arise in the political sphere. There is a lot of brouhaha at the moment about what was said to the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality by the Taoiseach. If the Taoiseach asked the Secretary General to convey to the former Commissioner that he thought neither he nor the Cabinet had confidence in the Commissioner continuing in his role, then, personally speaking, it is fine by me because I believe the Commissioner's race was run. That is my personal view. Anyway, as with all of these things, time will tell. I am not as excited as others about what exactly went on in that conversation. It is acquiring a political life of its own, but I do not believe it is an issue that exercises the public too much.

I wish to comment on the appointment of a new Garda Commissioner. It will be a singularly significant event in terms of how morale is restored in the force. I can understand why an organisation wishes to see one of its own appointed to the position. I realise there is an independent process of appointment. However, it is important that the views of Members are heard by those charged with responsibility for making the appointment. From what I have seen of the current acting Commissioner, Noirín O'Sullivan, she seems to be an extraordinary capable and committed member of the force and she is doing an excellent job.

However, it is my personal view that it is time to move outside the force to appoint someone with external experience. In many respects, we are discussing a cultural change within the force. Whether the old boys' culture of having attended Templemore together, back-scratching and looking after one another is real or imaginary, the only way the public's perception of the Garda will improve is if an external appointment is made. The Minister will not comment on this point now, but it is imperative that an external appointment be made.

There is a headlong rush to welcome the idea of a new independent police authority. On balance, this is probably the right approach, but it was always useful for the House to have an opportunity to hold the Minister for Justice and Equality to account for issues as diverse as some of those raised by Deputy Healy-Rae - for example, firearms licensing and rural Garda stations. As with the establishment of the HSE, when we amalgamated the health boards, there is a danger that the real process of accountability might be lost. We must be very careful to ensure that in whatever new structures are envisaged for the administration of the Garda, there is effective accountability. Some other organisations that have been established do not have effective accountability. This is a point of which we should be conscious.

The Guerin report recommends the investigation of alleged Garda malpractice. I want to put on the record of the House something that has distressed me as a public representative for some time. It was brought to my attention a while ago. There must be a filtering system for these investigations to determine whether the concerns involved are real or imagined, but the case I am about to raise needs to be examined. I urge the Minister to take it on board. The perception is that whistleblowers are good and anyone who is against them is bad. I am not judge and jury on that issue and I acknowledge others' comments on how the aforementioned Sergeant McCabe and former Garda Wilson have done the State some service, but the question of whether whistleblowers are good while those who express reservations are against the public interest or lack commitment to accountability is not so black and white. What I want to place on the record relates to the tragic events in Scariff, County Clare, in 1994, when Imelda Riney, her young son Liam Riney, and Fr. Joe Walsh were murdered. As Deputies will be aware, those murders were carried out by the late Brendan O'Donnell. At the time in Scariff, Garda Sergeant Ciaran Sheehan was a serving member of the force. He joined it in 1982, graduating with the Garda Commissioner's Medal. He served in various locations, including Finglas, Fermoy and Harcourt Square. He was promoted to sergeant in 1990, transferred to Swanlinbar in County Cavan and, in 1992, was transferred to Scariff Garda station in County Clare. In all of that period up to his appointment to Scariff, he had no disciplinary issues. He was suspended from service in March 1996 and was finally dismissed in 2008. Since his dismissal he has received no Garda pension, but that is not the issue that I wish to raise. He had a long family tradition of involvement in the Garda. His father was a member in Cork, as were other family members, including a brother who is currently serving. I have met Ciaran Sheehan. I do not wish to cause distress to the families of any of the people involved in those tragic events in Scariff, but I wish to raise allegations that have been put to me that I cannot substantiate but that need to be investigated. Brendan O'Donnell, who was convicted, as I understand it, of those killings-----

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