Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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84. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if a full independent investigation will be carried out into issues of 999 calls not being responded to by members of An Garda Síochána; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37159/21]

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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This issue regarding the 999 calls is only beginning. A consensus seems to be emerging between the Minister’s Department and senior Garda officers that somehow or other the Garda should investigate itself in respect of this matter. That is wholly inappropriate. A full independent investigation must be carried out as quickly as possible into this entire debacle. It is only beginning. Thousands of calls have yet to be examined that involved serious issues, including burglaries, assaults, etc., where people did not get an adequate response from An Garda Síochána. A full investigation must be undertaken as quickly as possible.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Any inappropriate cancellation of 999 calls is a serious issue. This falls significantly below the high standards that the public expect from the Garda and the high standards that An Garda Síochána sets for itself. I am particularly concerned that anyone experiencing domestic abuse, and, indeed, anyone in a vulnerable position who summoned the courage to seek assistance may not have received it. I welcome the apology made by the Garda Commissioner and the Commissioner has assured me that when people call 999 now, they can expect and trust that An Garda Síochána will help and that should always be the case.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Policing Authority was asked by the former Minister, Deputy McEntee, to oversee the review being carried by An Garda Síochána into this matter, and there have been several engagements between members of the Policing Authority and An Garda Síochána since March this year. This is in keeping with the role of the authority in providing independent oversight of policing services and reporting on and advising the Minister of the day. As the Deputy will be aware, the Commissioner met with the Policing Authority in public last month, where he gave a detailed account of these serious shortcomings and outlined what steps have been taken by Garda management to ensure it does not happen again. I understand he will meet the authority again later this month.

It is vital that the best interests of victims, and anyone whose calls were cancelled inappropriately, are the priority and focus throughout this process. The Commissioner has informed me that the Garda is contacting people whose 999 calls were cancelled to apologise and to ask if they require help from An Garda Síochána. He has briefed me several times on the matter and assured me that this work will be completed quickly, and that once that process is complete, he will give a full account to the Policing Authority. When the authority has completed its work and reported to me, I will examine its conclusions and take any action warranted on foot of its report.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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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-----

John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy, but his time is up. I call the Minister to reply.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I will outline a few facts for the Deputy. In February, the then Minister, Deputy McEntee, asked the Policing Authority to examine these issues, to oversee the Garda review and then to report back to her. It is welcome that this issue is being examined by the independent Policing Authority. The work being done by that body consistently, every month, is exactly why we have robust, independent oversight structures in our system. It is also proper for An Garda Síochána itself to undertake the review and contact with victims. This is being undertaken as a priority and that is the way it should be. As the Deputy will be aware, at the recent public meeting between the Policing Authority and the Garda Commissioner, the chair of the authority, Mr. Bob Collins, emphasised the need for an external review of the work being undertaken by the Garda regarding the cancelled 999 calls. The Garda Commissioner welcomed this approach, which will serve to provide assurance to everyone, especially the victims of crime.

Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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The issue is that it is not appropriate for the Garda to carry out this investigation. That is clearly the situation. Until the Minister stands up to the culture of cover-up that exists in An Garda Síochána, we are going to continue with this problem and continue to have these levels of malpractice. My understanding is that in one instance thousands of calls were cancelled by one individual. How was that person able to continue doing that?

It was only when this issue was going to come into the public domain through the publication of a story in The Sunday Timesthat the Garda contacted the Policing Authority. This is wrong and it stinks to the high heaven. I think the Minister knows that, and it would be prudent of her now to appoint an independent investigator to investigate this practice and to ensure that not only do we have an apology and assurance that it is going to stop, but that somebody is held to account for it. The problem in this country is that nobody is ever held to account.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I can understand the Deputy’s frustration regarding the cancellation of the 999 calls, but I do not agree with some of the statements he has made. He will be aware that this issue was initially identified within An Garda Síochána last October as part of its internal processes. An Garda Síochána wrote to the Secretary General of my Department, on 4 December 2020, to inform the Department for the first time that a number of 999 calls had been cancelled on the An Garda Síochána computer-aided dispatch system and that An Garda Síochána was carrying out a review of the reasons behind this. An Garda Síochána also notified the Policing Authority of this issue in October as part of the appropriate oversight role of the authority.