Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The frequency of serious scandals coming from the Garda in recent years is truly shocking for many people throughout the State. While historically working class communities have been aware of the potential for some gardaí to abuse power, cut corners or misuse their positions, for many in middle Ireland this has been a grave surprise. The Garda top brass have proven themselves utterly incapable of addressing the concerns of the public in the context of these scandals. In fact, they have not really even tried. Their main interest has been to defend, shift blame and control the damage. When the then Commissioner, Mr. Callinan, spoke of his disgust at whistleblowers, he was really expressing a disgust for the idea that the Garda could be questioned by anyone. However, holding the Garda to account and ensuring the law is administered justly is precisely the job we are here to do.

Members of the Garda have a difficult and important job to do. Their efforts have not been served by the response of the Commissioner or the Government to date, as evidenced by the litany of scandals. Unfortunately, the attitude of Callinan was not unique. In fact, it is quite common at this level of the Garda. It seems the Commissioner, Ms O'Sullivan, has carried it on, aided and abetted by a Fine Gael Government that has been found to be in increasing confusion over how to deal with each crisis.

Our motion tonight is clear. The response of the Commissioner to serious questions about the scandal has been confusing, misleading and contradictory. The Government and the Commissioner have failed to take responsibility, calling it a collective failure. This failure has led to almost 15,000 people being wrongly convicted on road traffic offences.

The Government has announced a commission on the future of policing. This is something Sinn Féin has been promoting for some time and we welcome the move, but there is need for urgent action to attempt to restore some confidence in the Garda. Root-and-branch reform must be undertaken and it must start from the top down. The Commissioner, Ms O'Sullivan, must be asked by the Government, in line with its powers under the Garda Síochána Act 2005, to step aside in order for a clean sweep to be effected. If this step is not taken, then the goals of reform, restoration of public confidence and ensuring a functioning police service are already set at an unlikely if not impossible outcome.

I note the decision of Fianna Fáil to join Fine Gael in circling the wagons and protecting the top brass of the State rather than support our motion in the interests of real reform and accountability. The rank hypocrisy of the Government in claiming that the motion is out of order is clear for anyone who remembers the method by which the Taoiseach dispatched a servant to give the former Commissioner, Mr. Callinan, his marching orders. The motion seeks to provide a united voice from the Dáil that the current Commissioner does not have our confidence.

The response of the Government is not determined by this motion. The Government has a record of ignoring motions passed in this House anyway. Whether this Government, Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil accept it, the Commissioner has significant questions to answer and does not have the confidence of the people. The Commissioner does not have the confidence of a significant section of this Dáil. Circling the wagons will not change that fact. It simply highlights the emptiness of the so-called ambitions of the Government for real Garda reform.

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