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

That is most uninspiring. The Taoiseach is treading the well worn path of Deputy Enda Kenny, a master of evasion who brought not taking decisions on Garda reform to the level of a higher art. Two things have been established and they are not in dispute. The first fact accepted by everyone, including the Garda Commissioner, is that she failed to comply with the Garda Síochána Act 2005 in failing to inform the then Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, of the serious allegations made at Templemore. That is not a matter of dispute. The second established fact is that the current serving Commissioner wrote to the Comptroller and Auditor General and misled him and his office.

There is no contention, debate or dispute about those two facts.

Leaving everything else aside, on the basis of those two established facts, the Commissioner has to go. If the talk of reform is more than rhetoric and if the Taoiseach is serious about a new era in policing, then accountability has to start at the very top and that means the Taoiseach, as head of Government, has to come off the fence, call things for what they are and ensure that the Commissioner goes in the interests of An Garda Síochána and public confidence. Anything short of that demonstrates for one and all that he is simply talking down the clock and talking the language of reform but not with any real seriousness.

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