Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Like Deputy Healy-Rae, I fully support the Tánaiste in the job she has but I believe at this stage that the position of the Garda Commissioner, Nóirín O'Sullivan, is untenable and that she must immediately step aside to prevent any further erosion of the reputation and the integrity of An Garda Síochána. I came to that conclusion after the Commissioner acknowledged that almost 14,700 people were wrongly convicted of motoring offences due to Garda error and that the Garda had exaggerated the number of breathalyser tests by 937,000. That beggars belief.

The public have reached scandal saturation point with respect to the breadth and scale of the latest Garda mismanagement fiasco. I support the ordinary rank and file gardaí on the ground 100%, and sergeants, inspectors, superintendents and chief superintendents, but the public are witnessing a constant drip of highly damaging information that is corroding the public trust in the Garda at a time when the reputation of the force is already at crisis point. That must be extremely demoralising for the rank and file gardaí on the ground, especially when it appears that there is zero accountability at the very highest levels of the organisation. The rank and file gardaí are the ones who put on their uniform every day, leave their families behind and go out to defend all of us. There is a thin line in terms of respect for them, democracy and what, since the foundation of the State, they try to enforce.

The Commissioner, by clinging on to her position, is only delaying the inevitable and causing real and long-lasting damage to the wider reputation of An Garda Síochána. It is no longer credible for the Commissioner to say that she is part of the solution and not part of the problem, especially when one considers that she has held senior positions in Garda human resources management since 2003 and was promoted to the position of deputy commissioner with responsibility for operations in 2011. Deputy O'Callaghan questioned the Tánaiste earlier on various issues that arose in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The Commissioner was deputy commissioner with responsibility for operations during that period. If she did not know what was going on, she should have known. The buck stops with her.

For almost 14 years, the Commissioner has been in a position to effect internal reform of the Garda and demonstrate accountability but that accountability must start at the top. As things stand, and with clear indications that there is more to come in terms of unacceptable practices, which we heard about in the statements last week, it is time for the Commissioner to step aside. The public cannot have confidence in the Commissioner's protests around instituting robust accountability measures when she appears to have excluded herself from those checks, regardless of what scandal emerges. That is the position.

Does the Tánaiste not believe that the public have reached scandal saturation point with respect to the breadth and scale of the latest Garda mismanagement fiasco? Does she not believe that it has done huge damage to its reputation, which is very important to retired members, members of the Reserve, who are being encouraged to join in radio advertisements and who want to do that, and the vast majority of members of An Garda Síochána who do an excellent job? The Tánaiste might answer those questions.

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