Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Over recent days we have heard of yet another controversy surrounding the management and operations of An Garda Síochána. We have heard of 14,700 unsafe convictions for motoring offences and almost 1 million breath tests recorded on the PULSE system that were never carried out. This is simply another episode of scandal surrounding An Garda Síochána. Perhaps we should not be surprised by the latest debacle. It seems clear from the scale of the current controversy that malpractice was endemic. It was happening day in and day out.

As the Taoiseach has fully acknowledged, public confidence in the management and leadership of An Garda Síochána is now on the floor.

The refusal of the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to take the required action and to call time on the rotten management culture in An Garda Síochána is a dereliction of their duties. The Taoiseach knows that the Garda Commissioner has to go. He knows that the fish rots from the head down. Those who tuned into the Commissioner's press conference yesterday were left in absolutely no doubt that the upper echelons of An Garda Síochána are rotten with arrogance and chronically unaccountable. The top brass, it seems, is prepared to brazen this one out. The Commissioner herself seems determined to brazen this one out. The question is whether the Taoiseach will allow that to happen. Anybody who believes that the dysfunctional culture in An Garda Síochána will change while the current Commissioner remains is, frankly, living in cloud cuckoo land.

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