Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil welcomes the Bill. I am confident it will enhance and strengthen the protections for whistleblowers in this country. Ireland has had a legislative framework on whistleblowers dating back to 2014 and we have learned a lot more since that Act came into force.

Ireland is one of a small number of EU countries that continues to have such a regime in place before the EU directive. In many instances, the 2014 Act has afforded vital protections to whistleblowers. Nonetheless, a number of high-profile cases have shown us that we can never be complacent about protecting those who are reporting wrongdoing by public and private sector organisations. It is important, therefore, that we take this opportunity to improve our legislative framework for dealing with protected disclosures.

The most famous whistleblower I can think of, and the person who most of us associate with whistleblowing, is Sergeant Maurice McCabe. He demonstrated great bravery. For many years, this House was used in order to tell his story at a time when it was not being listened to. Since 2014, much of what we have learned about whistleblowing, about its deficiencies and about the ways that needs to be legally tightened up, have come from that old case. I want to pay tribute to him on the record of the Dáil. Arising from Sergeant McCabe's whistleblowing, there was a whole political reaction. I would say that it was a positive one. The man had his name was cleared, and rightly so. An Garda Síochána then had to look internally at how it was functioning and how it could improve practice.

Very often, when an organisation seeks to make improvements and straighten practice, it looks beyond its own jurisdictions. In the case of An Garda Síochána, it very much cast its eyes towards the Six Counties to see how the Police Service of Northern Ireland, PSNI, operates. In trying to deal with whistleblowing and with some of the inadequacies within An Garda Síochána, it was wrong to look across the Border. It was wrong to look at some of the practices in Northern Ireland. The policing model we have in Ireland dates all the way back to 1922. It is a model of policing by consent. We all know our local gardaí. I see them involved in local GAA clubs and in coaching. They are very much involved with children and with groups in the community. This is about building up a rapport, which becomes evident and important when there is a crime in the locality. People will feel that their local garda is someone they can go to. They can talk to them discreetly and confidentially. It is a way of sharing information. All of that dates all the way to back to the quaint days of the garda pushing the bike through the local village. There was a building of a rapport within the community. I believe that we have wrongly looked at the model of the PSNI in Northern Ireland. Policing there has to be far more robust, because of the environment in which it operates. Armoured cars still patrol streets at night-time. There just simply is not that same ethos of policing by consent that we have always had here, in the 26 counties.

I want to drill down a little bit more into that. When new recruits first attend the Garda Training College in Templemore, they are given various training manuals. One of them relates to the principle of discretion. That manifests itself in many ways. One way that this principle can be applied is when any one of us is driving our car on the road and we lean a little heavier on the accelerator than we should do and exceed the speed limit as a result. An Garda Síochána has full power under the Road Traffic Act in that moment to turn on the blue light, pull us over and ask for all of our details and driving licence. We will then face the wrath of penalty points. However, the individual garda in that moment has the principle of discretion at his or her disposal. This dates all the way back to 1922. The centenary of An Garda Síochána is, in fact, this year. The garda has the discretion to say, “Well, John was going to maternity hospital with his wife”, or “Mary was going to visit her sick father, so I can square off this penalty notice”. That has happened time and time again, over a decade after decade. Was it abused? It probably was, because we have a culture in Ireland where there is perhaps some favouritism shown to some people, such as to the monsignor, the county hurler or whomever. That was wrong but, in general, the principle of discretion has worked for many years in An Garda Síochána. It has been effective and fair.

In recent years, however, we have seen a form of a witch hunt or a McCarthyism of sorts. The Limerick division of An Garda Síochána has looked closely at the squaring of fines. While it is right to look at a practice, in the Limerick division there are now eight gardaí who have been suspended right back since 2018. Some 150 gardaí within the division and in the neighbouring divisions have been questioned. The personal phone devices of 60 gardaí have been confiscated. While this was done to try to straighten practice and do the right thing, it actually made a witch hunt of the entire exercise. I am not here to be judge or jury, but I am privy to enough to know that this is not sufficiently progressing through An Garda Síochána, the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation or the Garda Commissioner. There a many cogs in this wheel that are slowing this investigation down. It has taken eight gardaí off the street. It is has brought many under a net of suspicion. A cloud hangs over them. They cannot progress in their careers. Ultimately, the people are losing out . The Limerick City division of An Garda Síochána, which takes in a considerable part of County Clare and my own constituency, is the ultimate loser here.

I do not think that model of policing that we have adopted from the PSNI works. Again, it comes back to the principles of community policing and policing by consent. We should have a really good look at that, rather than adopting this kind of McCarthyism that has existed for the last three years to everyone's detriment.

To return to the PSNI and what we seek to emulate at times, we should also have a proper look at some senior management figures within An Garda Síochána. This is because we had a British Supreme Court ruling just seven or eight weeks ago in respect of the hooded men and into how the investigation into the torture of those men was suspended, and wrongly so. That has been borne out in a state inquiry in the UK. Yet, senior figures in the PSNI and in An Garda Síochána presided over that. That matter needs to come under the lens. People are having their contracts renewed or whatever, and that is fine, but we need to have a lens on this. I will keep using the opportunities I have in this House to shine the light on it. While I am not judge or jury, I can certainly see the process. Everyone is entitled to be assumed to be innocent until proven guilty. The process has dragged far too many people into a net of suspicion. It is damaging to their lives, to their mental well-being and to that of their families and to their communities. It needs to be brought to a head. I ask here on the floor of the Dáil tonight that Commissioner Harris, whose contract has been renewed until 2025, will now take the initiative to progress this and bring it to the conclusion to which it needs to be brought.

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