Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent) | Oireachtas source

If the Tánaiste thinks for one minute that I am going to attack her here tonight, she has another thing coming. I want to say to the Tánaiste that I support her in her role as Minister for Justice and Equality. I believe she has done nothing wrong in this entire matter. There are questions to be answered and there are problems but I support the Tánaiste in the same way I support the chief superintendents, the superintendents and the rank and file gardaí I met yesterday while going about my duties in County Kerry and other areas.

There are questions that need to be answered and they are very serious. There are five basic questions the Commissioner has to answer. Why was the number of roadside breath tests inflated by almost 1 million? That is crazy. How was the falsification of breath tests recorded allowed to go undetected for so long? Who will be held accountable for the misreporting of the number of breath tests? How was a situation allowed to develop whereby 14,700 motorists were wrongfully brought to court? That is outrageous when we consider that people had their good names taken.

I support Sinn Féin Members and, in particular, Deputy O'Callaghan of Fianna Fáil, who raised earlier very serious questions about the Commissioner. If Members allow me, I will be a little more balanced in that people are saying she should go but I am saying she should step aside while, as the Taoiseach has said, an outside investigation is taking place. That is more plausible, fair and reasonable. That would give every person a chance to allow an investigation to take place and to see the results of that. If that means that the Commissioner will have to go, that is fine. If it means she should stay, that is fine. However, I compliment Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin on the stance they have taken and for saying this is totally wrong because when I go about my duties in County Kerry the people on the ground ask me what has gone wrong in this matter.

I was very happy to hear Deputy Micheál Martin say what he said on Leaders' Questions earlier because it is right. The Government might appear to be under attack but I do not want the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to be under attack. She was not responsible for the falsification of any statistics that have been put in the public domain.

With regard to statistics, through my own work in recent months I have discovered an enormous number of irregularities with regard to statistics being used by the Road Safety Authority, and others, when they are accounting for road fatalities. There are many anomalies in those figures. I have those statistics. I will not go into them now because this is not the time or place to do that but I will be using them in the future because the public are being misled.

I want to say to the ordinary garda out on the street today, whether in Dublin or in Kerry, and to the sergeant, the superintendent or the chief superintendent, that they have my confidence. I believe they should have the confidence of every elected Member of Dáil Éireann but we have to investigate and find out what went wrong and how such falsifications were made public. It is up to us then to deal with the situation that arises. In the time being, it would be better for the Commissioner to reflect intelligently upon the situation. A smart question was asked here earlier. If Dáil Éireann votes in favour of the Commissioner stepping aside for a period, she should listen very closely to that and I mean that in the most respectful way.

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