Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputies for raising this important matter in the House. I very much welcome the swift action taken by the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, to apologise for the treatment of Ms Majella Moynihan and the impact it has had on her life since when he became aware of her case on Saturday. I have echoed this apology in a brief statement which I released over the weekend and I intend to apologise to Ms Moynihan in person when I meet her in the coming days. As Minister for Justice and Equality, I sincerely regret the appalling ordeal that Ms Moynihan faced as a young Garda member. The treatment she has described was simply wrong on every level. It is shocking. As a young garda, she should have been able to expect that the Garda organisation would offer her support at a time when she most needed support and welfare. It is profoundly disappointing that she did not receive that support and that, on the contrary, she feels she was treated harshly by the Garda organisation.

For many decades, Ireland was a country that was highly intolerant of difference. Women suffered particularly, as did members of the LGBTI community, those with disabilities and members of other minorities. Society then functioned in a way that would be regarded as completely unacceptable by our standards today. Listening to former Garda Moynihan being interviewed over the last few days, I recalled the tireless campaigning of people like my former colleague, the late Nuala Fennell, in the 1970s and 1980s, in particular, her advocacy for single mothers. Nuala Fennell and a small group of others worked tirelessly to help to make this country a kinder, more compassionate and tolerant society. We still have some distance to go but, thankfully, Ireland today, more than at any other time in our past, is more tolerant, more understanding and less autocratic.

The European Union's legal framework means that the protections under the law that are now in place, not just in the Garda Síochána but in all State organisations and private companies, would not allow these events to happen today. However, that is not to say that it was acceptable that they happened in the past or to deny the enormous pain of many people, including former Garda Moynihan. Various issues have been raised over the past few days in relation to this matter, including the question, as raised by Deputy O'Callaghan, of Ms Moynihan’s pension. I expect this issue to be examined and discussed when Ms Moynihan meets the Garda Commissioner. I do not intend to pre-empt that discussion; I simply caution that the situation is a complex one. These are issues that can and will be addressed over the next while.

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