Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I presume the Taoiseach accepts that all is not well. Despite this, I asked him why he had confidence in the Commissioner and he ignored that question. The Taoiseach said he set up an independent Policing Authority, but he did not. He set up a Policing Authority but it is not independent. He refused our motion in that regard and is only now moving slowly in that direction. These are serious allegations of malpractice, corruption and breaches of the law. I brought even more troubling allegations to the attention of the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice and Equality 18 months ago, yet the Taoiseach did nothing about that. It appears that he is going to do nothing about the Garda Commissioner before he leaves office.

I have been trying to understand why this is so. As I watch all of this unfold, I have genuinely been wondering why the Taoiseach does not move on this matter. Is it because the institutions are all in this together? I do not mean that the Taoiseach is complicit or is in a conspiracy, I just mean that the institutional instinct is to leave things be. It is to protect the establishment and not to move unless one is absolutely forced to take action. There is no other rational explanation for why the Taoiseach will not remove the Garda Commissioner from office. He has a second chance to give us an explanation as to why he has confidence in the Commissioner.

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