Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

When this information first came to light several months ago, the Government's first reaction was to round on GSOC with the spurious excuse that it had not informed the Minister or proceeded in the correct manner. We are seeing more of this attitude today. The Taoiseach stood over the criticism of GSOC, and even though it was the perceived victim, he managed to turn it into the culprit. The suspicion was that somebody in the Garda was eavesdropping on GSOC, but instead of investigating it properly, the Government has continued with the policy of "move along, nothing to investigate". Fine Gael has lost considerable ground on this issue. The collapse in its vote was in large part due to this matter, as well as to economic issues. Why has Fine Gael taken such an authoritarian stance on the Garda? It is partly due to the party's history and the close professional connection between the former Minister for Justice and Equality and the former Garda Commissioner, but it is also because the Government and the establishment rely on senior gardaí to protect their interests, especially in times of austerity.

Contrary to what the previous speaker has said, the Cooke report is an exercise in smoke and mirrors. It was used by some in the media to suggest to the public that the Government has been vindicated. However, its terms of reference were set by the Government to ensure only certain questions would be asked or answered. For example, two possible surveillance operations, one electronic and the other physical, are mentioned in the report but are not examined in any true sense because they fell outside the terms of reference of the investigation. How can the Government claim it has been vindicated and that nothing untoward took place when nobody from the Garda or the Defence Forces was interviewed? There was no investigation of records of surveillance equipment in Garda operations or the stock of equipment. The question of whether legal surveillance was sanctioned was never asked.

Recent months have shown us that we need a Garda force that is democratic and accountable at central and local level. Will the Minister investigate why gardaí were assigned this week to guard a water meter in Edenmore in Dublin city from a peaceful protest among residents? Does she consider that a good use of Garda resources?

I represent a massive urban area in west Dublin with one Garda station for a population of 100,000. It is regularly the case that Garda cars are unavailable to respond to calls from ordinary residents who become the victims of crime. I could cite numerous such cases from the past six months and I have personally witnessed this happening. In some cases involving serious attacks on women, including muggings and sexual assaults, gardaí did not even attend the scene of the crimes. This is a daily occurrence in the area I represent. I know one women who was a victim of domestic violence and had obtained a protection order against her husband. Her husband subsequently called to her house and caused problems. I was with this woman on two occasions when she contacted the Garda only to be told there was no Garda car available to help her. Similarly, I have experiences of women who had obtained protection orders and barring orders that were not served by local gardaí in defiance of court orders. I am sure this is happening because gardaí in Blanchardstown are overrun and cannot police the population assigned to them with the resources they have been given.

These types of incidents are encountered regularly by Deputies and councillors. They confirm what I have always believed as a socialist, namely, that the Garda and the Army are part of the State and are used to defend the establishment and the status quo, including the right to private property and the system of capitalism, at all costs. However, assisting ordinary men and women experiencing crime and problems arising in their daily lives is not the Garda's top priority. We need a proper investigation of the Garda and what happened in respect of GSOC, with much broader terms of reference and experts in surveillance equipment. However, we also need a democratic police force that is accountable to local communities and at a central level.

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