Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday and again today, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar, expressed continued confidence in the Garda Commissioner. The Tánaiste does so in the wake of damning documentation presented by the head of Garda human resources, Mr. John Barrett, to the Committee of Public Accounts. This documentation substantiates Mr. Barrett's contradiction of Commissioner O'Sullivan's statement to the committee last week. It details his concerns about how his efforts to raise financial irregularities at Templemore were frustrated. In fact, he expresses the very real worry that the approach of senior gardaí could be perceived as a cover-up. The documentation reiterates the fact that the Commissioner ignored her legal advice and her legal obligation to inform immediately the Tánaiste of the financial irregularities at Templemore. Now we discover that the Tánaiste is, it seems, happy to be left in a state of blissful ignorance in this regard. Worse still, she suggests that the happenings at Templemore were not serious enough to merit a report under section 41. This is quite incredible.

The leadership of the Commissioner has become a conveyor belt of crises, each scandal flying in the face of the central mission of the Garda, that is, to uphold the law and protect the people. Since public confidence in the Commissioner has been torn to ribbons by persistent malpractice, corruption, arrogance and a blatant lack of accountability, it is now the Tánaiste's responsibility to act. It is a disgrace that she refuses to hold this Commissioner to account. The Tánaiste is the Minister for Justice - she is the Commissioner's boss - yet she has done nothing. Deputy Enda Kenny is An Taoiseach - for a few more weeks at least. He is the Tánaiste's boss and he, in turn, has done nothing. Is it any wonder the Commissioner refuses to do the right thing and resign? The Commissioner knows full well that the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach will both keep their heads firmly stuck in the sand in an attempt to wish all of this away, but it will not go away. The Tánaiste's handling of the scandals surrounding the Commissioner's leadership of An Garda Síochána is a scandal in and of itself, and the story is now wider than the Commissioner's intransigence. We are in the throes of a serious crisis of governance that fundamentally undermines the credibility of the Tánaiste's Government and the rule of law. This has been brought about by her refusal to act and her incredible insistence that Commissioner O'Sullivan remains the best person to lead An Garda Síochána. The position of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael's partners in government, is equally nonsensical on this score and on the test of accountability.

The Commissioner needs to go. Her position is completely untenable. In no other walk of life, in no other job, would a person so compromised be allowed to stay in her position. The Tánaiste's approach to this crisis has made a laughing stock of the political process within and outside this institution, and her continuing refusal to do her job will only ensure that ordinary people become more angry, more alienated and more cynical.

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