Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Judge Mary Ellen Ring also made the point that the protected disclosures system is not working as well as she would like it to work. The Minister should take a look at what she said. I am not making it up. She talked about GSOC not having the teeth to do what it would like to do. We said the same about the Policing Authority. Today Josephine Feehily was before the justice committee. Given that the Policing Authority has been considering the O'Higgins report, one of its earlier jobs, which raised serious concerns about the role the Garda Commissioner played in her efforts to undermine the credibility of Maurice McCabe, I asked Ms Feehily what she was doing about it. If Maurice McCabe had not taped that meeting in Mullingar, he would have been thrown under the bus. Does the Minister know what Ms Feehily said? She said it was outside of her remit and that it was up to the Minister. If the Minister fails to hold the Garda Commissioner to account, there is a great fear that the Minister could go the same way as a former Minister for Justice and Equality, because she cannot ignore what is in the O'Higgins report. Sadly, the Policing Authority, which we knew did not have enough teeth, does not have the authority to hold the Commissioner to account, but the Minister does. Will she do so?

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