Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Unfortunately, public confidence in An Garda Síochána is in shreds. The Policing Authority has to be the cornerstone of rebuilding this confidence. This motion is part of that process. Increased powers are necessary to bring reform and cultural change to An Garda Síochána. Recent revelations concerning the fixed charge system and the breath testing figures released are staggering and have shaken public confidence to the core.

The appearance of the Garda Commissioner before the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality did nothing to restore the confidence of Fianna Fáil in her position. She was assistant commissioner before being appointed to her current position. If she did not know what was happening, she should have known. Either way, her ability to restore public confidence in An Garda Síochána is seriously in question.

Fianna Fáil recently published legislation to expand and strengthen the powers of the Policing Authority. We now have this motion to establish a commission to review An Garda Síochána and its workings.

Two weeks ago, revelations shook public confidence in the force to the core. Some 14,700 people were wrongly summonsed to court under the fixed charge notice system. The financial cost of this has yet to surface. These costs include the loss of job opportunity for individuals, increased insurance costs and so on. It beggars belief that 937,000 breath tests could be falsely reported. Are there more revelations to come? The Irish Times put the revelations in the public domain. Were the breath tests deliberately inflated to restore confidence in road safety measures and drink-driving statistics? Will road traffic offences be the only ones where false figures will surface?

The chair of the Policing Authority, Josephine Feehily, learned of this fiasco from the media. That is not good enough. The Policing Authority will be the catalyst to reform our police force and rebuild public confidence.

I fully support Deputy Jim O'Callaghan's first steps in restoring the confidence in our police force that is so necessary for society.

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