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

No review or inquiry, no matter how robust or comprehensive, will be successful in addressing the dysfunctionality at the heart of the Garda while Nóirín O'Sullivan remains in office. It is as simple and clear cut as that. She has presided over a litany of catastrophes and her position is untenable. In no other walk of life would this be a matter for debate.

The Commissioner is not a new kid on the block. She has been the boss for three years and was deputy commissioner prior to taking the top post. It is unbelievable that the Tánaiste accepts the Commissioner's line that she must remain in her role to complete her "journey of work", as she describes it. This is the same journey of work that has fostered the list of debacles in which the Garda finds itself embroiled. Does this journey also include her speculating out loud as though she were some detached onlooker that the controversy around breath tests and motoring offences might not be the end of scandals surrounding the Garda? Is the Taoiseach okay with this frightening lack of accountability? He is in charge. This corruption, malpractice and mismanagement in An Garda Síochána is happening on his watch. We are agreed that it must be replaced with accountability, transparency and integrity from the top to the bottom, so the Garda Commissioner has to go. When will she go? When will the Taoiseach relieve Nóirín O'Sullivan of her duties?

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