Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

"We as a family are going through hell. We have no life anymore because of what GSOC are doing to our family over nothing. We cannot have a smile, a decent conversation, nothing. I cannot take it anymore. I see no option but to take my own life as the head of the family. I am mentally murdered by it all." This is a letter that I and Paul Williams the crime journalist have been given by one of the 108 members of An Garda Síochána currently suspended. There is a culture of mistrust, unreasonable discipline and disrespect for the rank and file members that is permeating from the top down. It is underpinned and proven by yesterday's vindication of a garda who was suspended for three years for giving an unused bike at the back of a station in the midlands to an elderly gentleman in the community. This culture is there. The rank and file gardaí are telling us in our constituency offices. This letter bears it out. This is a garda considering taking his own life. Someone has to intervene. I know you will say Ministers cannot intervene in the day-to-day operations of An Garda Síochána but a culture has gotten hold of that organisation that needs ministerial involvement. It needs to be dismantled to ensure we have a good Garda force and for the well-being of gardaí throughout the country. I ask that the Minister and the Government would intervene. This man and so many others have to be treated better by the organisation.

See this speech in context