Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak to the motion. The Minister for Justice and Equality said that she would not for one moment seek to underestimate the seriousness of the issues that have arisen recently relating to fixed charge notices and mandatory alcohol tests. She said that what has emerged is unacceptable and disturbing. She also referred to last week's Fennelly report and stated: "This showed - if we needed to be shown once again - that over the decades organisational problems have accumulated in An Garda Síochána that have not been fully addressed." I would go back further than that.

First, I express my support for the ordinary rank and file members of An Garda Síochána, as well as the inspectors and superintendents I deal with in Tipperary. However, it appears that matters have gone very much askew somewhere further along the line. I recall raising in the Chamber a number of years ago the encounter of the former Minister, former Deputy Alan Shatter, with his mandatory checkpoint. He did not treat the gardaí he met on the ground too well, unlike the Minister who always supports them. He showed disdain for them most of the time. That report was presented to me and it was given to a Garda station in Dublin, but it went missing and could not be found to corroborate what I had been told about what happened. He knows what happened and he admitted what happened later. He used his chest and asthma. It was the one and only time I ever saw him caught for words or stuck for breath or anything else. The arrogance and contempt he showed all of us in the House when we raised issues are what he showed for the force. It was despicable at the time. Now, he is rattling the cage again, including the cages of the Minister and the Taoiseach, because he is like a schoolboy who has been put out of the class. However, he made his bed so he can lie in it. The people showed what they thought of him in the election.

To return to An Garda Síochána today and the systemic problems that exist, we depend on the Garda. There is a thin blue line between the community and anarchy. The men and women of the Garda put on their uniforms and go to work every day. The vast majority of them are proud of that. They guard the community against all types of organised crime. Some of the crime now is very specialised. It is very different from the crime that occurred 30 or 40 years ago. However, I believe the systems in An Garda Síochána at command level have not changed or adapted with the times. Many incidents have been mentioned. I refer to two people from my county, Detective Sergeant John White, who is in Donegal, and Superintendent Dave Taylor. I know Detective Sergeant White and his family very well and I know the Taylor family also. What happened with Detective Sergeant White and what he was accused of have been forgotten in all of this. We must never forget the horrific Omagh bomb. I am involved with and support the Omagh bomb families in their search for justice and how they felt betrayed by what happened. I have met and listened to former Sergeant White and others regarding how that happened and why it should never have happened. There is also Dave Taylor.

What is going on? We must have a truly independent board for total oversight. A week or ten days ago I had decided that I wanted the Garda Commissioner to go, but now I believe there must be full reform before that. There is no point in just getting the head of a Garda Commissioner. We got one previously, and we are surprised again now. With the issues arising now perhaps he is somewhat vindicated in what he did. With all the pressure, reporting and the statements in this House An Garda Síochana is being put under enormous strain. I attended a retirement event for a wonderful detective, John O'Gorman, in Clonmel last Friday night. I met dozens of retired members of An Garda Síochána of all ranks, as well as dozens of serving members, at what should be a joyous occasion. They were downbeat and half depressed from the ongoing, relentless raising of different issues and mismanagement.

They are instructed to go out and do their work. There was extra pressure in recent years. All Members of the House knew that they had no tools of the trade. They did not have squad cars. I met a garda one night when I was canvassing. As he did not have a telephone, computer or squad car at the barracks, he went home to feed his dogs. He told me that himself. He was in uniform and was embarrassed when I knocked at his door. He said he should be at work but he could not do anything. He was left without the tools of the trade and without support. The austerity cuts and the lack of support were all hidden in the House by successive Governments. Gardaí did not have batteries for their flash lamps or ink for their pens. It was that bad, yet we expected them to continue to do their job.

They must be supported and respected. The respect of the public must be earned by An Garda Síochána. It is hard earned, and ongoing respect must be maintained by how the gardaí behave. No police force in the world can function without the support of the public. That is recognised all over the world. We must support the Garda but we must get all the dirty linen out and wash it. It was interesting to hear Labour Party Members speak tonight. One would think they had not been in Government for 20 years. Their backsides are barely out of the seat of Government. To hear them talk about the disdain, pressures and demands they have now is some change. It was the same today with regard to the greyhound industry, with the former Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, calling for the board to be sacked. These are people appointed when he was in the Cabinet and had Cabinet responsibility. Who do they think they are codding? The party is down to seven Members. It will be down to one if they keep going in that way. The Member can come here on a Honda 50. The last time they arrived in a seven seater car. This hypocrisy is ridiculous.

I do not know how I will vote on these motions. One is trying to compete with the other and we all want publicity, as we saw today with regard to water. We must think seriously if we want a Garda force of which we can be proud of and that will support us, our families, children and grandchildren. We need to have full confidence in the Garda so there must be thorough root and branch support. We cannot have what is happening at present, as I found out from some of the people I met last week. Diktats are coming from assistant commissioners to chief superintendents, superintendents and inspectors to carry out numbers of checkpoints. They do not care how they do them, just that they do them. The gardaí cannot do them because they do not have the time, officers or resources. They are told, "Just get them". That is not healthy in any organisation, but that is still happening. That must be rooted out. They can only do what it is possible for them to do. There are only so many hours in a day for work. Their job is more complex now. Everything must be recorded, put on PULSE and so forth. They need time and space but the amount of mental pressure they are under is causing fatigue and illness. How can they work?

How can they go out to earn the respect they want without the proper support measures in place and without being bullied to carry out so many checkpoints and other pieces of work - getting no recognition and getting scolded and fined? There is an internal system of fines if gardaí do not deliver on certain targets. Let them do the job honestly, openly and transparently. It should not be a case of them manicuring figures to make it look good for promotional prospects but that is the system which has grown up since the foundation of An Garda Síochána. We need to change it root and branch. I know the Minister intends to do that.

I thank the Minister for her briefing last week on the commission and look forward to working constructively with her in that regard. We must get to the bottom of the issue, for the sake of the pride, safety, well-being and respect we have for the members of An Garda Síochána on the front line, male and female, and to maintain the trust I can instil in my family, friends and constituents. It is a very delicate situation. We must work towards building on that trust, but we must have a root and branch investigation and hang out all the dirty washing, no matter whether we have to buy more lines in Tesco or wherever else. We must hang it all out or get rid of it. There is a constant drip, drip, drip. There is a constant onslaught of leaks. Reports are held up, they are not released when they are ready and reports are not made to the Policing Authority. We must get it all out and get back to normality and try to support the Garda who face organised crime and subversives in order to protect us every day.

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