John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I propose to share time with Deputies Richard Boyd Barrett, Shane Ross, Catherine Murphy and Joan Collins.

It is interesting that the majority of people in the country have given a mid-term verdict on the Government. I do not want to rerun what happened in local elections over the past week but from speaking to people on the ground, as many of us have, much of it had to do with not trusting and not believing the Government and the absence of accountability within the Government. Austerity, medical cards, disability, social welfare and the lack of sustainable jobs were issues. One might think this issue, what was happening in the Garda Síochána, was not important, but leading up to the local election it was the big issue in Ireland. It resonated with people. I was astounded that how big an issue this was seems to have gone past the Government.

I compliment Deputy Mick Wallace on introducing the Bill but I suspect the Government will not support it for the reason I gave. People have lost faith and the Government has lost touch with the majority of people who know what is happening in their communities. Before speaking in the Chamber, I spoke to a number of members of the Garda Síochána. There are decent people but they are despondent, despairing and saddened at what has happened. There are many decent and honest gardaí and they want reform, openness and fairness. They want to be accountable and they want the respect of the community but they know they must earn it. Throughout Ireland, everyone will rely on the Garda Síochána at some stage. Sometimes, the Garda Síochána is the last recourse for people in extreme difficulty through anti-social behaviour. People want to know they can trust the Garda Síochána and that they will get what they ask for with no strings attached. They want to know they will get accountability, fairness and honesty. No matter how much the Government dresses it up today, we could go into matters such as the whistleblowers, Terence Wheelock, Brian Rossiter and the penalty points scandal.

An Garda Síochána has been a fortress shut against outsiders for 90 years. These are not my words. Opposition to oversight is not new to the Garda. Commenting on the force in 2012, former GSOC chairman Conor Brady stated: "An Garda Síochána has been a fortress shut against outsiders for 90 years." What more do we need to know? Denis Bradley, former vice chairman of the Northern Ireland policing board, stated that in most modern societies and democracies something was always placed between the Department of Justice and the police service to ensure a certain distance and involve as much of society as possible. If we dig deep into the Bill, that is what it is about. It is about accountability for An Garda Síochána. It is not about gardaí policing or looking after themselves or about political interference or political selection of gardaí. These practices must stop as they are no longer acceptable to the people and communities of Ireland. We need to establish a powerful police authority, with members drawn from all sections of society and with the power to appoint and remove senior police officers. We need to strengthen GSOC to ensure no garda or retired garda is employed in investigations, to extend its power of investigation to cover the Garda Commissioner and to ensure it has access to all Garda records, including the PULSE system. We must establish local police partnerships, the members of which should include community activists and civic leaders, with the power to call gardaí before them to explain operations, and see the immediate removal of gardaí found to have been involved in systematic misconduct.

These are simple and uncomplicated proposals. Anybody who had to go through what happened in this unbelievable scandal or any good garda would agree with them. I have read the Bill carefully and shown it to some gardaí and they see no problem with its proposals. Decent and ordinary people and those with no axe to grind or no political affiliations see this as a good Bill. However, it seems obvious that it will be rejected, just like the restorative justice Bill I brought forward. I was told by the Government I should introduce the Bill for debate and that it would support it. That happened, but because it was an Opposition Bill, it was not really supported. I suspect that is what will happen in this case.

I do not have as much time as I would like to go through the Bill. I compliment Deputy Mick Wallace on bringing it forward and hope the Government will consider supporting it.

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