Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Ar an gcéad dul síos, ba mhaith liom mo chomhghairdeas a ghabháil leis an Aire nua. I wish the new Minister for Justice and Equality all the best. I compliment Deputy Ross on bringing forward the Public Sector Management (Appointment of Senior Members of the Garda Síochána) Bill 2014. He has been preparing it for quite some time and it is not a knee-jerk reaction to recent events in An Garda Síochána.

I have said umpteen times in this House that the Garda Síochána, or any police force for that matter, cannot police without the full support of the public. That is what it is all about; it is a two-way process. I have been a member of Muintir na Tíre and community alert for many years, encouraging communities to support the Garda. It is very important the Garda Síochána has the trust of the people.

Unfortunately, what has happened in recent times has besmirched the good name of An Garda Síochána. A very small number of events have really done damage to the people whom I salute and who have put their lives on the line day in, day out to maintain peace and stability in our country, and they need our support. Every member of An Garda Síochána, from the newest recruits right up to the Garda Commissioner, needs trust and respect. If they do not have that, things will not be right.

I have many contacts and good friends in the Garda Síochána who have supported community alert, rural Ireland and the town of Clonmel. I mention two recently retired superintends, Superintendents Courtney and Duggan.

My feeling is that appointments are political. That is known and I hope the Minister will make a clean sweep with a new brush because we need to clean out that culture of political appointments and to be able to say without fear or favour that it is the people's and the Garda's Commissioner and not someone acting at the behest of a Minister or a Government.

What happened recently with the Commissioner and the Minister, who are both gone and which came about under a cloud of darkness, was very unsavoury. We will never know about the trip that fateful night by the Secretary General of the Department to the Commissioner's home. We must have openness and transparency.

We must go abroad to make appointments because this country is too small. I have little faith in the Public Appointments Service because, along with two colleagues from this House, I had to appoint a number of people to the fisheries board as the former Minister, Eamon Ryan, had a new idea. However, we were not welcome there. It had its own shortlist of people it wanted who were all retirees from other Departments. I happened to be chair of the appointments group and I gladly turned the list upside down and started from the bottom up. We need that culture in the public service to change. We will have to look for people from abroad when making appointments. I wish the acting Commissioner well and do not know what will happen to her but we need people from abroad to come here to clean up whatever mistrust is at the top. There is a feeling in the Garda Síochána that the detective branch has had too much sway. I know it does important work but one cannot have cliques in An Garda Síochána. It is one force serving the public at all times.

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