Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As we all know, the responsibility of the Opposition is to hold the Government to account. The Minister for Justice and Equality has a responsibility to hold the Garda Commissioner to account and is answerable to the Dáil. Sinn Féin wanted the Policing Authority to have more powers. It should be able to hold the Commissioner to account and no one Minister should have this responsibility. If the Minister checks the record, she will see that the Government blocked this; therefore, holding the Commissioner to account is her responsibility and she must be able to account to the Dáil. A series of allegations have been made about how Sergeant Maurice McCabe was treated after he had raised concerns about investigations of serious crimes in the Cavan and Monaghan division. In particular, it has emerged that two senior officers, apparently, claimed that Sergeant McCabe had admitted to them he was motivated by malice. This allegation was also, apparently, made by a senior counsel acting for the Commissioner. I will put to the Minister the exact same questions I put to her yesterday. Answers to these questions are the very minimum the Dáil, citizens of the State, serving members of An Garda Síochána and, in particular, victims of these serious crimes deserve. There is no legal barrier to the Minister answering them. In fact, she is obliged to do so. It is very straightforward. Yesterday, she met the Commissioner in the north inner city, where last night Iattended the community vigil. Did she speak to the Commissioner about these issues? Has she asked what instructions she gave to her legal team about Sergeant McCabe? Has she asked whether two officers claimed that he had admitted to them that he had acted with malice? We are entitled to answers to these questions. Whatever the Minister might want to say about the detail and the context, we, as Teachtaí Dála, are obliged to hold her to account. She is obliged to answer these very straightforward questions.

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