Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

I want to send my solidarity with the girl who apparently was sexual assaulted and to her family. I hope she gets the care as well.

I wish to ask the Taoiseach something related to gender-based violence. There was a report by Village magazine and The Ditch yesterday that a garda, who was corrupt and violent towards his wife and another woman, was awarded a medal of bravery from An Garda Síochána in 2021. I do not know why this was not widely reported at the time but it is being reported now. How is it that a disgraced garda who had to resign from the force was brought back for a Scott medal of bravery - the highest medal that one can get? How seriously is gender-based violence taken when a garda - the State had to apologise to his wife for the abuse she suffered - is brought back for such an award? Is it acceptable that Government Ministers presenting such awards would not look into the background of such people, particularly the Minister for justice who is responsible for the gardaí, law and gender-based violence?

Noel McMahon was a detective. The Morris tribunal found that he planted hoax bombs and ammunition across the north west of Ireland in the 1990s to make himself look good for catching the IRA.

He bought illicit drugs and planted them in a nightclub in Donegal, and then organised Garda raids. The nightclub owner went to jail because of this. Let us not forget that. It was a miscarriage of justice. The man later got a certificate.

On top of this, the detective assaulted two women that we know of. His own wife was a victim of years of abuse. He used his official Garda firearm to point to her head and say he was going to blow her brains out. That is what she testified later on at the tribunal. Noel McMahon used his firearm against his wife and he also faked a court safety order against her. Her children were placed into care, Taoiseach. She lost custody of her children because of the actions of this man. Can the Taoiseach imagine the damage that was done to them and to her? Lawyers on behalf of the State, on behalf of the Minister for Justice, in 2018 had to issue a State apology to the woman and damages as well.

How does a garda, a bent copper by anyone's standards, a crooked cop, end up getting a Scott medal of bravery only three years after such a State apology? In 2021, Deputy Micheál Martin was Taoiseach. I do not know if he was aware of this award. His acting Minister for Justice, Heather Humphreys, presented the award and called his acts heroic, absolutely heroic. Should a Minister for Justice not do some due diligence? Will the Taoiseach revoke the award now?

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