Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are many reasons this Government and the Taoiseach should face a motion of no confidence instead of a motion of confidence today. A motion of no confidence could be tabled due to the record number of families who find themselves homeless in this country due to Government policy. We could debate a motion on how this Government is the first in the history of the State to introduce a tax that loses money. A motion could be tabled condemning the fact that one in eight children in Ireland live in consistent poverty. We could discuss a motion of no confidence in our health service and the many graduates who are fleeing the country. We could discuss how many old people across rural Ireland and our cities live in fear of burglary and crime because of the Government's withdrawal of Garda resources across the country. We could discuss how the Government has pulled up the ladder on many social welfare recipients by introducing consistent cuts to social welfare, its inaction on mortgage arrears, or the regional imbalance of the recovery.

All of these issues are a direct result of decisions made by the people sitting opposite us today. All of them would merit a motion of no confidence, but we are debating a motion of confidence in the Taoiseach as leader of this country. This is an Orwellian turn of events and is, perhaps, a perfect indication of the arrogance that has seeped into the heart of Government Buildings and personnel in recent years.

The Government put forward this motion of confidence in an effort to undermine debate on the failings of the Taoiseach and members of his Government as exhibited in the interim report of the Fennelly commission. After 18 months, the interim report of the commission has been published with a highly co-ordinated PR approach by the spin doctors in Merrion Street to limit damage. The three primary actors in the events - the former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan, and the former Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, Mr. Brian Purcell - have all now been forced off the stage. The Attorney General has been heavily criticised in the report, leaving only the Taoiseach claiming he is entirely in the clear. He is not, of course, as he still has many questions to answer.

The report verifies the facts around the resignation of the former Commissioner, Mr. Callinan, and fully confirms our view that he was effectively sacked by the Taoiseach. He was, in effect, forced to walk the plank on the instruction of the Taoiseach, with an infamous midnight call to his house by a senior civil servant, which was unprecedented in the history of the State. The report finds that the Taoiseach's confidence in the Commissioner was not guaranteed in the next day's Cabinet meeting, despite the fact that the Commissioner had correctly dealt with the matter in respect of which the Taoiseach had lost confidence in him, namely, the issue of phone recordings in Garda stations. The Commissioner had carried out his legislative duty by informing the Minister for Justice and Equality in a previous letter, dated 10 March, of the matters surrounding the recording of phone conversations in Garda stations.

Yet, it is put forward that the Taoiseach sought to breach illegally section 11 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 which states that only the Government can dismiss the Commissioner. Despite the Commissioner having carried out his duty in informing the Department of Justice and Equality of the phone recordings, the Taoiseach sought to use the issue as a politically expedient smokescreen to remove Martin Callinan to buy cover for the embattled then Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter. He did this by instructing the Secretary General at the Department to call to the Commissioner's home late on a Sunday evening and inform him that he no longer had confidence in him.

The Fennelly report notes the immediate catalyst for the resignation of the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan, was the visit of the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality to his home, and the message conveyed to him from the Taoiseach during that visit. The Commissioner would not have resigned if Mr. Purcell had not visited him that night. Mr. Purcell would not have visited him that night if it were not for the instruction of the Taoiseach to do so. Mr. Purcell described the meeting as one of the worst days of his career, a strong statement from an experienced public servant who, we recall, was shot in the leg, I think, when he worked in the then Department of Social Welfare, by the criminal known as "The General". In effect, the Taoiseach sacked Martin Callinan.

The report also highlights the serious communication dysfunction at the heart of Government. Serious questions remain as to how senior managers at the Department of Justice and Equality did not know of the Garda recordings, given that it was revealed in November 2013 during the Ian Bailey case, and earlier that year as part of a GSOC report. The fact there was no communication between the Attorney General and the then Minister for Justice and Equality about the matter until the fateful meeting in March in the Taoiseach's office shows a level of dysfunction whereby members of the Cabinet simply did not trust each other on these issues.

It is now evident the Taoiseach misled the House with his statements that he did not order the circumstances which would result in the effective sacking of the Garda Commissioner. The report's findings that the Taoiseach did not intend that outcome do not stand up against the evidence of other key witnesses. The underhanded and dishonest approach of the Taoiseach is at the heart of these events. It is also at the heart of the motion before us today.

This motion is extremely ironic following the revelations of the report. Those findings raise serious questions about the judgment of the Taoiseach in the execution of the powers of his office. The report raises even more questions on the credibility of the Taoiseach in the evidence he gave to the commission. The Irish people already appear to have made a judgment call on this matter, with the vast majority of the citizens of the State refusing to accept the Taoiseach's account of why the Commissioner of An Garda Síochána resigned his post. A poll published by RTE during a "Clare Byrne Live" programme was very telling. It detailed that only 12% of those who responded stated they believed the Taoiseach's version of events. This must be most distressing for the Taoiseach, who promised the people of this country a democratic revolution. It is clear the Government's confidence in its leader can only have been undermined by the interim report.

When proposing Deputy Enda Kenny for the position of Taoiseach in March 2012-----

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