Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Here we are again talking about practices within An Garda Síochána. We have had the O'Higgins report and the O'Neill report and earlier this week the Tánaiste announced a new commission of investigation, all of which were essentially designed with the same remit, that is, to investigate the practices of An Garda Síochána which underpinned the appalling treatment of whistleblowers in the force. Surely, this underlines the point that there is something fundamentally wrong at the most senior level of An Garda Síochána.

The same commission was announced by the Tánaiste with zero recourse to the Dáil in advance regarding the terms of reference, and we will have a debate on the matter this afternoon. That was unfortunate. The minority Government of 59 members, underpinned by Fianna Fáil, does not represent parliamentary democracy, and the mandate of the entire Dáil must be remembered. It feels like a throwback to the majoritarianism and arrogance that developed in the last Dáil. I welcome the debate this afternoon, which comes after the fact.

There seems to have been a kind of attitude that things can be managed. This has spectacularly backfired. Two weeks ago, John Mooney had a Sunday Timespiece dealing with a report which the Tánaiste had been aware of since last year yet which had not found its way into the public domain. The report concerned serious mishandling of funds in Templemore Garda training college. In any other week, the story would have run and run, but the Tánaiste got lucky with the news cycle. The report is indicative of the malaise in the force.

The Commissioner's statement last night that she was surprised by the revelations made yesterday astonished me and, I am sure, others because these allegations had been circulating at political and media levels for some months. If the Commissioner genuinely did not know about them, there is a very serious failure in the intelligence-gathering capabilities of her office, and indeed the force, and a serious problem with internal communication. Given the tittle-tattle that the last Commissioner seemed to know about Mick Wallace's minor motoring offence, for example, it is very hard to believe that the current Commissioner is oblivious to the most serious and scurrilous allegations about her and Sergeant McCabe that were circulating. Given that it appears RTE correspondents were made privy to the intricate details of the O'Higgins report before it ever saw the light of day, the Commissioner might ask if RTE is getting more information than she is. It is very hard to believe the Commissioner's statement last night, and it begs the question what else we can believe. We in the Social Democrats see no option but for the Commissioner to step aside while the commission undertakes its work, given her central role in disciplinary procedures in the force.

Does the Tánaiste accept that the establishment of a third inquiry into the force is indicative of serious problems at the most senior level of management? Does she accept that the force is undermined? Does she find it credible that the Commissioner did not know about the allegations that were circulating? Will she publish the report about Templemore college?

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