Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The fundamental issue is what is the function or role of the Cabinet committee on justice reform. It is clear that all reform efforts up to now have failed and the Garda Inspectorate reforms have not been implemented. I put it to the Taoiseach that it is extraordinary given the revelations about the latest debacle of 146,000 being wrongly summonsed to court, 14,700 being wrongly convicted and close to 1 million breathalyser tests that never took place having been falsely recorded. The Garda Commissioner stated that they are organisationally shameful, were false and, at worst, there was deception, and, at best, incompetence. Given the scale of the falsehoods involved and the disruption to the criminal justice system, does the Taoiseach consider it acceptable that the Garda Commissioner did not inform the Minister of it and did not inform the Policing Authority that such an audit was under way? Has the Taoiseach spoken to the Policing Authority about it? What is the Government's sense of the failure of the Commissioner to inform the Policing Authority? I do not want to be fobbed off with "an administrative oversight" because I do not buy it. Given the scale of the falsehoods and the undermining of the criminal justice system, why the Policing Authority was not informed about this matter is a very serious issue.

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