Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Tá an Comhaontas Glas fíorshásta tacaíocht a thabhairt don rún seo. It is essential for the proper operation of a State that the public has confidence, respect and trust in its police force but in recent times, there has been a worrying erosion of this by the inability or perhaps perceived unwillingness of the Garda Commissioner to properly and efficiently handle a number of serious crises that have emerged. It may be seen as unprecedented for the Dáil to vote on this motion and I accept that it is far from ideal but the scale of the unprecedented damage done to An Garda Síochána and the public perception of the force necessitates this unprecedented response. In supporting this motion, the Green Party is prepared not only to recognise the scale of the calamity but to act. A total of 146,865 District Court summonses for road traffic offences were wrongly issued while 14,700 convictions were wrongly imposed on members of the public due to Garda error. Nearly 1 million breath tests that never took place were recorded on the PULSE system. The Commissioner did not inform the Policing Authority of these discrepancies until 23 March after the publication of an article in The Irish Times.

In supporting this motion, the Green Party has also taken into consideration that the Charleton tribunal of inquiry, which is investigating an alleged smear campaign against Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe, involves investigating the actions of the sitting Commissioner. More importantly, how can some current members of the Garda workforce give their vital oral testimony to this public sworn tribunal inquiry, including potentially damning or fractious evidence under cross examination from the Commissioner's barrister concerning the Commissioner herself? The subject matter of their respective complaints does concern or ultimately relate to their boss, the person to whom they are accountable and answerable. The adversarial and anticipated controversial oral evidence makes her continuing as Commissioner totally inappropriate.

For the sake of public confidence in An Garda Síochána, recognising that public confidence is an essential requirement for gardaí to do their jobs effectively and recognising the essential work which the front-line women and men of An Garda Síochána do each day, we join in the call on the Commissioner to consider her position.

In our opinion, the Commissioner would best serve the vast majority of her honest, brave, courageous and hardworking officers by standing down now. The Green Party believes that most rank and file gardaí - as well as the public - have long since lost confidence in the Garda Commissioner in the context of her ability and credibility regarding the implementation of far-reaching reforms that are needed. One such essential and urgent reform merits her replacement as Commissioner.

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