Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I mean the inquiries we have initiated in respect of Siteserv and other matters. These inquiries are all symptomatic of a failure by existing mechanisms and systems to deal with issues and complaints when they arise. There is something wrong with our culture in terms of our ability to transparently deal with issues professionally, be it complaints relating to An Garda Síochána or in the context of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement having the capacity to investigate commercial wrongdoing and so on. This is also having a huge impact on the taxpayer.

Parallel with these inquiries, we need to have a programme within the public service and within our existing mechanisms to ensure that part of the remit of the vision of any organisation involves providing timely, professional responses to issues that arise. Consider, for example, the volume of issues that go to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC. It is extraordinary. GSOC has almost become paralysed on foot of the volume of work it has on hand and its lack of resources and capacity. One is obliged to wonder, in the context of the overall picture, what it is all about. This volume of complaints must speak to something that is wrong with within our system. I put this to the Taoiseach in respect of the inquiry into Siteserv and the IRBC. Project Eagle is a classic illustration, where €4 million or €5 million ends up in an offshore account and nobody bats an eyelid. People were saying the problem was "Over there, and not over here". It is just bizarre that any State institution would have a view that it was fine because the potential wrongdoing was on the purchaser's side and not on that of the vendor, and that the issue would not need to be examined. Of course it is not fine. That kind of culture needs to be nipped in the bud.

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