Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The Garda Síochána, which is charged with upholding the law, must also operate within the law. We owe the Garda a great deal. The force has been essential to the stability of this State and the preservation of security through some extremely turbulent times. Members of the force have lost their lives in the process. The difficult and dangerous job that members face must never be forgotten. The Garda has rightly long enjoyed the trust and respect of the overwhelming majority of citizens. The Cabinet met on March 25 last year amid a number of controversies that had beset the force and - I can say - were doing no favours to it. These controversies were threatening to erode the widely held trust and respect in the force. The Government did not want to see such a situation materialise. At the meeting, the Cabinet was briefed on an additional issue that had emerged, namely, the taping system in place at a large number of Garda stations. Faced with these serious matters, the Cabinet took a number of decisions. We agreed to establish a commission of investigation. We agreed to accept the retirement of Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. Crucially, we reiterated our commitment to extensive reform of policing in this State through the establishment of an independent policing authority. In politics, Governments are frequently accused of failing to act on issues. This was the precise opposite: the Government took decisive action to have serious concerns investigated and serious reforms initiated. I stand by those decisions.

I have full confidence in the Taoiseach and I have full confidence in the Attorney General, who was central to ensuring the concerns around the force would be investigated fully and appropriately. The Fennelly commission was subsequently established and tasked with investigating, among other things, the taping system and its origins and legality or otherwise; the recordings and events linked to the investigation into the death of Sophie Toscan du Plantier; the furnishing to the then Minister for Justice and Equality of a letter that had been sent by former Commissioner Callinan to the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality; and the sequence of events leading up to the retirement of Mr. Callinan. We now have the interim report of Mr. Justice Fennelly. I welcome that report, which deals with the issue of the letter and the retirement of the Garda Commissioner. As the report notes and I have mentioned, a number of other events that occurred in the period preceding the former Garda Commissioner’s retirement, including the treatment of whistleblowers, embroiled the force in public controversy. The report makes it clear that the ultimate decision to retire lay with the then Garda Commissioner and that no directive was issued by the Taoiseach to Mr. Callinan. It is also clear from the report that Mr. Callinan dealt with the circumstances of his retirement in an extremely dignified fashion. It is clear that the Attorney General did her job, first, by ensuring potentially vital evidence in a matter of serious public concern was not destroyed and, second, by bringing her concerns rightly to the Taoiseach for onward submission to the Government.

Now, the Opposition would have it that somehow all of this amounted to some massive overreaction by the Government.

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