Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left) | Oireachtas source

The promised inquiry into the issues regarding the Garda Síochána that have been raised over the last year will be the third such inquiry in ten years. Questions need to be asked about the Morris and Smithwick inquiries, which investigated very serious allegations and identified very serious problems. Did anything change following those inquiries? The Morris tribunal found evidence of extremely serious malpractice in Donegal. The half-hearted measures provided for in the Garda Síochána Act 2005 achieved nothing. As I have said previously, the Morris tribunal went halfway and did not go any further. I think there were political reasons for that. The reality of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission is that it dismisses 90% of complaints for all sorts of reasons. It is extremely difficult to get the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to take claims seriously. When it carries out investigations, it gets gardaí to investigate gardaí. On the rare occasions when disciplinary action against senior gardaí has been recommended, that has been ignored. Recommendations to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions are usually rejected. The Smithwick report was compiled following an investigation into the serious issue of whether gardaí were involved in collusion in the murder of two RUC officers. It did not establish that this had happened, but it uncovered a culture where defending the force comes before telling the truth. This finding was dismissed out of hand by the then Garda Commissioner, Mr. Callinan, who has since departed that role. No action was taken by the Government. The Smithwick tribunal might as well never have happened. In light of this history, we are right to be sceptical about the possibility of real and effective change taking place, despite what might be found by the promised inquiry.

I would like to respond to what Deputy Mulherin had to say. We would not have come to where we are if Opposition Deputies had not grabbed these issues - the concerns of the whistleblowers and the injustices being suffered by people all over the country - and doggedly brought them to the fore. If some eggs have to be broken to ensure a proper and transparent system is put in place, everybody should support that. Such a development would be supported by every member of the Garda force. Equally, the citizens of this country are supportive of increasing transparency and bringing about real and effective change. Like everybody else in the Opposition, the Deputies in the Technical Group will watch and scrutinise every aspect of this slow process. Will the culture of defending our own - of seeing and hearing no evil - be rooted out? I refer to the culture at the top of the Garda, whereby senior gardaí regard any criticism as outrageous, find the actions of whistleblowers "disgusting" and consider the gentle probings of a toothless body like the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to be such a threat that they may have bugged its activities. Deputy Clare Daly and other Deputies have made a point about the lawful and unlawful aspects of this matter and suggested that the terms of the actual investigation need to be questioned. Change will not come about unless a decision is made to depoliticise the management of the Garda Síochána. This means taking the appointment of senior gardaí out of the hands of the Government, establishing bodies that can conduct a genuinely independent oversight of the force and giving real powers to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission.

I would like to conclude by referring to the serious issue of the policing of the Corrib gas protest. This is a real example of an issue of political policing - policing that is not impartial and is not based on the consent of the local community or the common good. The policing policy in this instance was based on the needs of a multinational. It was carried out in co-operation with Shell management and private security firms employed by Shell and was authorised by the State. When the Taoiseach dismissed the issues raised by Deputy Clare Daly as coming from the "usual suspects" - troublemakers from outside the area, etc. - he was adopting the very same dismissive attitude that has been exhibited with regard to the various issues that have been raised over the last year. His attitude does not fill me with any confidence that anything has been really learned or that there is any intention to address the fact that serious complaints about policing are just not taken seriously. The Taoiseach can dismiss the so-called "usual suspects" if he wants to, but I remind the House that in so doing he is dismissing Bishop Desmond Tutu, who might know a thing or two about political policing, and the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, who recommended after visiting Ireland in 2012 that the policing of the Corrib project should be reviewed. The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, which as usual dismissed most of the claims against the Corrib gardaí, found that a superintendent was in breach of discipline at Pollathomas in 2007. This was not acted on by the then Garda Commissioner. In 2008, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission sought permission from the then Minister to carry out a practice, policy and procedure review of the policing of the Corrib protest.

That this request was denied tells us everything we need to know about the commission's capacity to function independently. We have heard a whole range of allegations regarding the Corrib protest, from brutality to wrongful arrests and detention, the rape tape controversy, and the allegation, which is being investigated by senior gardaí, that large quantities of alcohol were delivered to Garda stations by Shell contractor, OSSL. If the issue of the Corrib gas protests is not included in the upcoming inquiry, it raises very serious questions about the commitment to have a wide-ranging serious inquiry and take decisive action on foot of it.

Everybody in this House should welcome efforts by colleagues to bring forward positive ideas and proposals on important issues. It is not good enough for people to talk about "having" to listen to somebody in this Chamber. I listened with interest to the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, last night and took note of what she said. I did so not because I had to but because I wanted to, just as I would listen to any speaker in this House. Members on both sides of the House should avoid getting on their hobby horses when discussing these issues.

See this speech in context