Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin is bringing this Private Members' business to the House tonight in the best interests of the State. It proposes that the removal from office of Commissioner O’Sullivan would also be in the best interests of An Garda Síochána. As a society, we need a policing service that prosecutes the law without fear or favour. Everyone the length and breadth of the country is entitled to a force that serves them fairly. As a society, we need a Garda force that is accountable, representative of the community and held to the highest professional and ethical standards.

There have been a number of reports into Garda misconduct over the last years and each report has eroded public confidence in the gardaí and Garda management. The recent Garda errors, which led to the wrongful conviction of 14,700 people for motoring offences and to 937,000 breath tests being wrongly recorded on the PULSE system, are just another case of mind-blowing corruption or sheer incompetence. While 14,700 people were wrongly convicted, that may be only the tip of the iceberg. It has also been our experience that calls made to local Garda stations are not registered on the PULSE system, hence we are not seeing a true picture of what happens based on actual reporting of crime.

Members should think about the fact that 937,000 breath tests were wrongly recorded. No one seriously thinks that Garda management was running around the country blowing into breathalysers to inflate figures but someone was, and it highlights the major problems that must be ingrained in the Garda system. To find out what happened, the investigation process must start at the top. That is where the consequences must also first be felt, before dealing with the issues further down the ranks.

This motion aims to start a process that will make senior Garda management responsible for the actions of the force. It seeks to meet the need to hold the police and criminal justice systems to account on the basis of fairness, impartiality and objectivity. We are not going to change how we do policing in Ireland until we change the system. This is the crisis point; any hesitation from the Government at this stage in dealing with these major issues will only further erode public confidence in An Garda Síochána. It is now the case that the Garda Commissioner does not enjoy the confidence of the Dáil. More importantly, she does not enjoy public confidence and therefore has no choice but to show a strong lead in accountability and go.

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