Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move:

That Dáil Éireann welcomes the publication of the Interim Report of the Fennelly Commission and notes its conclusions and reaffirms its confidence in the Taoiseach, in the Attorney General and in the Government.

I welcome this opportunity to discuss the interim report of the commission of investigation which is being chaired by Mr. Justice Fennelly, a retired judge of the Supreme Court.

The Fennelly Commission, which was established on my recommendation on 25 March 2014, is part of broad and comprehensive approach which the Government has taken to ensure that matters of very significant public concern related to the administration of policing and justice are thoroughly addressed. These include the most wide-ranging reforms of the policing and justice system since the foundation of the State, as well as robust actions taken to investigate certain allegations. No similar series of reports has ever been more thorough, or published more quickly. No programme of reform of policing and justice has ever been more radical, or more necessary. The reform programme includes the establishment of a new independent policing authority; the provision of enhanced powers to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, including enabling it to deal with and investigate complaints from serving gardaí; and the passing of groundbreaking new legislation to protect whistleblowers, including to allow serving gardaí to make protected disclosures to GSOC in confidence.

The decision to establish an independent policing authority, which was taken by the Government on 25 March 2014, represents the most radical reform of An Garda Síochána since the foundation of the State. It brings a dedicated layer of public oversight to the administration of policing services and provides a new engine to drive reforms to ensure that the force is fit to meet the challenges of 21st century policing.

As well as implementing wide-ranging reforms, a number of independent inquiries were established by this Government to investigate serious matters of public concern. Judge Cooke was appointed to investigate allegations that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission was the subject of unlawful surveillance. His report was published in June 2014. Mr. Seán Guerin SC was appointed to investigate allegations made by Garda Sergeant Maurice McCabe about crime investigations in the Cavan-Monaghan district. His report was published in May 2014. His recommendation that a commission of investigation be established to investigate further certain matters has been acted on. In 2014, the Government commissioned the Toland report, which was prepared by a group of distinguished independent experts. That report identified a number of deficiencies in the structure, management and operation of the Department of Justice and Equality. On foot of its recommendations, a programme for change and a new strategy statement for the Department have been finalised and are now being implemented. When these reforms are fully implemented across the policing and justice system, I am confident that the reporting and communications failures that are identified in this interim report will not be repeated in the future.

The interim report of the Fennelly commission deals with two specific issues which the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Equality and Defence unanimously requested be included in its terms of reference and reported on in advance of the main report. The first concerns the furnishing to the Minister for Justice and Equality of a letter dated 10 March 2014 from the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan, to the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality. The second concerns the sequence of events leading to the retirement of the former Garda Commissioner on 25 March 2014. These issues are, of course, closely interlinked. In particular, the failure to furnish the Garda Commissioner’s letter of 10 March 2014 about the taping of telephone calls in Garda stations to the Minister for Justice and Equality had a very significant impact on subsequent events. This was greatly compounded by the fact that neither the Minister nor I were informed of the letter’s existence when considering the matter on 24 March.

I repeatedly rejected claims that the report would not be published when I received it, or that I would somehow attempt to delay publication until after the forthcoming general election.

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