Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

While the Government says it still has support for the Garda Commissioner, mayhem prevails in An Garda Síochána.

The Commissioner became caretaker Commissioner in March 2014. The Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, became Minister for Justice and Equality on 8 May 2014. It just so happened that, on that very same day, Garda Nick Keogh made allegations and started off an investigation into the conspiracy to supply heroin on the part of a garda. Three years later, he has not been arrested, nor has the woman involved who was dealing in the drugs. A garda went to the Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, back in 2012 and warned him about promoting a certain officer, who, unfortunately, was promoted and has wreaked havoc since. That same garda was recently charged with careless driving after tipping into a tractor and trailer which had no tax or insurance. He won his case, and what has the Garda done? It has gone looking for a judicial review to be taken, which will cost more than €20,000.

This morning we met two gardaí. At 2.30 p.m. today, in a car park out on the Naas Road, a female garda will collect yet another set of discipline papers as part of an ongoing campaign by senior Garda management. This is about an incident that happened 17 years ago. She has been condemned, judged and isolated. The Government says the Commissioner should not be, but members of the force are when the authorities see fit. She has been put through the wringer. She has spent more than 60 days in court, at great cost to the taxpayer. Despite being found unanimously not guilty on all counts in a criminal trial, she is still subject to an ongoing campaign of internal disciplinary inquiries. Two internal inquiries are completed and three are ongoing.

From 2016, I have a decision of the Commissioner, signed by the Commissioner and Assistant Commissioner Michael Finn. They recommend that this garda should retire or resign as an alternative to dismissal. These are the same people who have accepted in excess of 14,000 errors last week. That is bigger than the population of Wexford town. This woman is to be fired out of the force, and for what? It is for failing to put on PULSE a crime that was reported, and she also got the very same charge for failing to secure a statement.

There is mayhem. The force is in bits. It is falling down around our ears. The only one in the whole country that is supporting her is the Government. When is this going to change?

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