Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I too welcome the report and express our gratitude to Mr. Justice Fennelly for the work he is doing. When part one of the Fennelly report was published in 2015, we in Sinn Féin said the Taoiseach's spin on it was not credible. We believed it was clear at the time that sending the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, Mr. Brian Purcell, to the home of the Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan, had the obvious effect of conveying to Commissioner Callinan that he should resign. The Taoiseach's spin at that time on the findings of the report, which contained evidence of serious and multiple Government failures, was simply not credible. In response to all that at the time, Fine Gael and its partners in government focused entirely on political damage control instead of attempting to address the root cause of the problem in An Garda Síochána. We in Sinn Féin tabled a motion of no confidence in the Taoiseach and the Attorney General following the Fennelly commission publication. We did not do this lightly. The Taoiseach and his Government failed to take responsibility for their actions in the whole affair, and the Attorney General changed her testimony to the Commission, which in itself was a shocking indictment. Since then, we have watched as the current Garda Commissioner, Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan, became the subject of a tribunal of inquiry. She remains backed by this Government because the potential consequences of not doing so might trigger a general election.

The latest Fennelly report extensively criticises the Garda Commissioner and some of her colleagues due to her failure to respond properly to the recording of non-999 calls in Garda stations. News of this emerged first in 2013 but the report is clear that the Holness trial in 2011 should have flagged the issue to senior gardaí. In that case, the presiding court judge ruled that recording all incoming and outgoing calls in the station was a breach of the law. While the ruling, and the clear statement that the calls in that case were obtained unlawfully, was conveyed to Garda headquarters in reports from various senior members, nothing at all happened. We know that Mr. Martin Callinan was informed of the ruling but was never told that the recordings in question were of non-999 calls, which means he either believed 999 calls were no longer allowed to be recorded or that most senior gardaí in the country simply never thought to ask. He did stop for long enough to write a note to Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan, the then Deputy Commissioner, to ask the legal implications of the ruling but the person who was to replace Mr. Callinan as Commissioner never replied. If she did, the reply was never made public or given to Mr. Justice Fennelly. The information eventually made its way to the crime policy unit of the Garda, and the people whose job it was to come back to the Commissioner on it did not do so.

For nothing to happen following systemic incompetence of that level is astounding. Even when GSOC flagged that this was something to be addressed, nothing at all happened. It was not until 2013, when the Ian Bailey tapes were discovered, that more general inquiries were instituted by Nóirín O'Sullivan, which led to the story breaking of a more general recording system that involved the mass illegal recording of phone calls in and out of Garda stations, including those between citizens and their solicitors. It was Ms Máire Whelan's outlining of the potential ramifications of this for trials that led to Mr. Martin Callinan's retirement.

The second Fennelly report is clear that the illegal mass recording is not due to a deliberate abuse of power but is, rather, the result of ignorance among management. Importantly, however, abuse of the system is not ruled out in the report. The system was abused. That nobody has taken responsibility for this beggars belief. That the Taoiseach, who made decisions, has not taken responsibility is shocking but not surprising. While the second Fennelly report does not contain the extent of criticism of the Taoiseach or the Attorney General, as the first Fennelly report did, it does conclude that had further explanations been sought around the recordings, events in reference to the resignation of Mr. Callinan would undoubtedly have been different.

This week we have a debate on a motion in which we ask the Government to use its power under the Garda Síochána Act 2005 to remove Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan from her post while she is subject to the investigation of a tribunal. The Government rode roughshod over this process, over the legislative provision, when it suited it to give Mr. Callinan the boot. It suited it because it was politically expedient for it to get rid of Mr. Callinan at that point and then to accept the resignation of Mr. Alan Shatter. Meanwhile, the Taoiseach and Attorney General are still in their posts. Of course, they are not the only people affected by the outcome of the Fennelly investigation. In this report, we also see how the gardaí investigating the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier were prepared to look at altering, modifying or suppressing evidence that might speak in favour of Mr. Ian Bailey. We acknowledge that while the report states no evidence was actually tampered with, it still found evidence that gardaí were willing to allow or encourage false allegations to be made. Members of the public will hear this and quite legitimately wonder where else, and in what other cases, was there a garda willing to alter evidence to secure a desired prosecution.

There are decent gardaí trying to get on with their work on the ground, but the system itself is completely dysfunctional. We know that, in regard to the illegally recorded telephone calls, there is no allegation of systemic abuse of power, but we do know that in one call investigated, a garda is recorded as threatening a member of the public with a false accusation of assault against a child. What would happen in that case?

The truth is that, in all these circumstances, there is a huge problem. The problem is at the very core. In the Taoiseach's speech, he said the commission makes damning findings about the lack of evidence, oversight and procedures within An Garda Síochána over a lengthy period. Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan has been at the very head of An Garda Síochána for a lengthy period.

The truth is those at the very top who are being protected by the Government are the ones who are the problem and the Taoiseach and the Government need to deal effectively with that problem. Having more reports and more situations where we have various inquiries, tribunals and commissions will never get the solution that the people need. What the people need is to restore trust in the Garda Síochána. The ordinary citizens of the State have lost trust and when they have lost trust, the Government has lost the confidence of the people. The only way to restore that is to remove Nóirín O'Sullivan, to have a clean out of those at the very top and, indeed, around the country. There are many individuals within An Garda Síochána whose contribution to policing seriously needs to be looked at to determine whether it has been a positive one. The Taoiseach will be aware of that.

Fennelly is another example in all of this. Fennelly finds that the senior officers in An Garda Síochána did not know that this was going on yet all of them came up through the ranks. They all were inspectors, superintendents and chief superintendents in the various districts around the country and their role in all of those positions over the past 20 years would have been to monitor and be aware of the data and communications in all of those district stations around the country. The reality is they knew all about it. Unless Ministers open their eyes and sort out this problem, we will be in a desperate situation. We already are in a desperate situation because the people have lost trust. The only way to restore that trust is to deal with the situation.

Fennelly did a particular piece of work. That work is only a small part of the jigsaw. It is time to act to clean out the rubbish that is there and to put a proper policing policy in place so the people can have confidence again.

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