Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is not responsible, I am not suggesting that. I mentioned what went on in Dungarvan Garda station several times regarding me and my family. It was depraved. As I said, there are many cases like that up and down the country. We are only scratching the surface. When will the culture change?

As I said, 99% of gardaí want to do a good job but they get manipulated and the wrong people are promoted. The appointments are too political. I totally agree with Deputy Wallace. GSOC and its precursor, the Garda complaints authority, were toothless when I went them with my complaint. They had no powers whatsoever. Many other people have come to me with similar stories.

I do not want to cause friction with Deputy Howlin because we had enough of that last week, but the Labour Party was in Government for the past five years. Its Deputies held very important positions and should have dealt with these issues over the past five years. Many more things should have been dealt with by previous Governments.

The issue is out there now and we have to thank a lot of people. We cannot become convulsed by this and forget about everything else. Other gardaí have different issues that have nothing to do with bullying, harassment or intimidation. They want to engage in ordinary policing. People in their homes are frightened and nervous. Not enough gardaí are in place and there have been cutbacks. We cannot waste money and forget about the public duty that gardaí have and their duty to the State to protect the people. We must support that at all times.

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