Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Everyone says the Garda Commissioner is innocent until proven guilty. That is grand. We are not saying lock her up and throw away the key, but for God's sake take her out of the police job because she is not fit for it. I am not throwing notions plucked out of the sky at the Taoiseach. I am throwing information and facts at him. In 2008, when Maurice McCabe first raised issues of wrongdoing in An Garda Síochána and systemic problems in how the force worked, he was trying to change the culture in An Garda Síochána.

Here we are in 2017 and, sadly, the culture has not changed.

The Government did not change anything. It brought in a few changes in legislation but these were not nearly enough. It changed the Commissioner but appointed one in who was at the shoulder of the other one when he called whistleblowers "disgusting". Since then she has hounded and harassed whistleblowers. It is not as if the Tánaiste was not told about this. The Government knows it is going on but it has decided to turn a blind eye. It did not want to know what is happening because it did not suit. If the Taoiseach has any interest in how we do policing in Ireland he should change it now by getting rid of the Commissioner. He should get rid of all the hierarchy too as several assistant commissioners are due for retirement. He should do as the Patten report recommended in Northern Ireland and start afresh. Let us find someone from outside the country or a civilian and get a new hierarchy from the lower members of the force who were not able to get promotion because they were clean. Let us make a fresh start before the Taoiseach retires and let us do something for policing. There was a time when Fine Gael was seen as the party of law and order but this Government has rubbished that.

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