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

I thank the Minister for her reply. It was similar to responses to parliamentary questions tabled earlier this week. Returning to the beginning, the issue is that the Garda only reported this matter to the Policing Authority when it was clear that a journalist was going to publish a story about what had happened. When it was clear that a story about this issue was going to be published and put into the public domain, then the Garda contacted the Policing Authority. Listening to the recent meeting between representatives of the authority and the Garda Commissioner, it was clear that they were frustrated because they were told in the beginning that this was a technical issue and that there was nothing to look at in this regard.

From the beginning, therefore, senior Garda officers were covering this issue up and trying to make little of it. This is the point. We cannot trust An Garda Síochána to investigate itself in respect of these matters. I state that not just regarding this situation. It is an historical problem regarding An Garda Síochána. Every time there is corruption and malpractice, the first port of call is cover-up, which is more malpractice. There is then a cover up of the cover-up. GSOC is then called in to cover up that cover-up, and that is the issue which must be dealt with. Until there is a Minister of Justice who will stand against this culture of cover-up-----

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