Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Garda Síochána (Compensation) Bill 2021 is very positive legislation and I fully support it. Essentially, the Bill is aimed at decreasing the length of time it takes for disposing of a Garda compensation claim from initial application to award by providing for clear time limits in respect of each stage of the process. The new process is also aimed at ensuring that avenues for settlement and resolution are available at the earliest possible stage and that cases do not end up before the courts and are not necessarily dealt with by the High Court when the amount claimed in compensation could be dealt with in a lower court. Provisions for legal cost penalties for failure to settle or for choosing the wrong level of court will now apply to Garda compensation claims in the same way as they apply to other personal injury actions. It is a good legislative measure. I have followed the debate this afternoon and yesterday and I do not expect that it will meet too much opposition.

It concerns me greatly that the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation still has not yet properly dealt with and progressed the investigation relating to the suspension of eight members of An Garda Síochána in the Limerick division. The Limerick division encompasses a considerable amount of County Clare, which I represent. A population area of approximately 12,000 people is policed by the Limerick Garda division. It is a great concern that eight members of that division have been on suspension with pay since November 2020, with the matter being before the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation. In total, more than 100 gardaí have been brought in for questioning, more than 60 telephones have been confiscated and, as I said, eight members remain suspended. One of the suspended members gave an anonymous quote to the Irish Examinerquite recently: "Our lives are ripped apart ... Our mental health has been in tatters ... [Me and my colleagues] are in a state of distress". There is nothing worse than to have a net of suspicion hanging over one.

Whether it is right or wrong, this investigation needs to move on because the force is disadvantaged by it. The eight personnel would be very much appreciated on the beat in the community. I am sure there are other services behind the scenes, administrative supports within An Garda Síochána to which these people could be assigned, rather than have them sitting at home wallowing in the despair that this has brought them to.

It is not my job to be judge and jury, but it is my job to highlight the issue - I do not get many opportunities to speak on this issue because of the separation of powers - but it certainly is not moving fast enough. The genesis of this goes all the way back to 1922, a century ago, when An Garda Síochána was formed. Every single intake of trainee gardaí have been told about L7, the power of discretion. It applies in so many contexts. A garda, in a moment, can decide how he or she should act and apply the law. It is especially relevant insofar as the Road Traffic Act is concerned. We have all been there. We have all been driving from point A to point B, possibly against the clock, and we have exceeded the speed limit on a particular section of roadway. If we are pulled over by the gardaí in that moment, when the window is rolled down and we speak to a garda, most people offer an excuse and explain - sometimes it is inexcusable of course, but sometimes it could be a trip to a maternity hospital or for any number of reasons, some of them valid and others absolutely invalid - but a garda in that moment has the power to exercise L7, the power of discretion, to cross out or square off the traffic offence there and then. That has been taught since the inception of the force way back in 1922. The power of discretion is the most powerful power a garda has, but it is not defined. It has no definition. Discretion is what it is. The Minister might have a different discretion to mine. It is the power of an individual in the moment to decide the rights and wrongs and to apply in a sensible, logical way a piece of legislation.

What has happened in the Limerick Garda division is the higher echelons of An Garda Síochána believe this to fall in the realm of abuse and corruption and they have launched a major investigation into it. Perhaps some of that is right and some of it is wrong. We need to move beyond this stage. When someone is pulled over, it should not matter who he or she is or how he or she ranks in public life, or in any respect. This is not about squaring off a road traffic offence for a county hurler, the monsignor or the local Deputy. This is about having reasonable discretion in a moment to decide where the rights and wrongs are. When this investigation got under way, some of the gardaí were straight out of Templemore. They had been in their lecture rooms and then they were on the beat and they were suddenly brought into a net of suspicion and involved in an investigation. Some 100 of them were brought in and questioned. The investigation remains unresolved. It has hampered career progression. There has been a cloud of suspicion over them. Many gardaí who wanted to transfer to their home area cannot do so because they are part of this investigation, which simply has not concluded. Their personal phones and laptops were taken from them. It has been damaging and harrowing to their families. Some of the gardaí were unable to speak to me when I contacted them, but I did speak with wives, husbands and partners who were able to tell me just how devastating this is. Some of them are on antidepressants.

If nothing else, in the public interest, I urge that the Minister would speak with Commissioner Harris and ask him to move the investigation on. I raised it with him at a joint policing committee in Clare at the turn of the year. He was limited in what he could say in that forum, but he did commit to moving this on. That is all we can ask for here today. We cannot ask for outcomes, but we ask that the investigation would be moved on. The public are disadvantaged. An Garda Síochána is disadvantaged. Am I over time or am I in my final minute?

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