Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Members of this House for agreeing to statements being taken on this important matter in the House today. As the House will be aware I have laid the relevant material before the House to give full effect to the recommendations of Mr Justice O'Neill.

However, before moving to seek approval for the relevant motion I believe it is sensible that we discuss these matters here first. I am already persuaded from discussion which I have had that there may be some improvements which can be made to put beyond doubt that certain matters will come within the remit of the commission. I intend to reflect on what is said here today and make any amendments to the proposed draft order in light of those discussions.

As Mr. Justice O'Neill indicated, it is imperative that certain allegations be examined and I believe we should stick as closely as possible to the terms of reference he proposed. After all we appointed him and gave him terms of reference for the initial inquiry. He has considered all the issues and made a series of recommendations which I have laid before the House.

In the other House, Deputies made this point and I am sure Senators will agree. It is important to do this in as timely a way as possible so that we can get to the truth. At present we have allegations and we need to get to the truth of these matters.Mr. Justice O'Neill, who has examined all these issues to date, does not know if the allegations he says should be inquired into are true. I do not know if they are true, nor does any other Member of this House. What we have are allegations. I acknowledge the allegations are very serious and if they are found to be true, they inevitably will have very serious consequences. We must remember that the truth or otherwise of allegations is not determined by their seriousness or their frequency but by the facts. I am determined that those facts should be established. I am very grateful that Mr. Justice Peter Charleton of the Supreme Court has agreed to act as the commission, so I want to take this opportunity to thank him and indeed Mr. Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill for the work that has already been done in a very timely way.

It is of the utmost importance that allegations of wrongdoing by members of An Garda Síochána are fully addressed. An Garda Síochána occupies a critical part of our democracy. It is essential that trust is maintained in An Garda Síochána and that citizens can have that trust because of the serious work that they do daily. We have seen many examples of that in recent weeks. These are very serious allegations and that is why, within four days of receiving allegations in the form of a protected disclosure from two members of An Garda Síochána last October, I asked Mr. Justice O'Neill to review the allegations and to recommend what further action might be taken. While it is not possible for legal and constitutional reasons, on the legal advice that I have received, to publish his full report, I have set out in the statement of reasons before the House the conclusions and recommendations made in his report and indeed his full terms of reference. I have followed what he recommended in full. The priority has to be to give full effect to his recommendations.

I want to address suggestions that the Garda Commissioner should stand aside. I have to speak out in favour of fairness. There has been absolutely no finding of wrongdoing against the Garda Commissioner and I believe in the circumstances that she is entitled to our full confidence. It is a matter of fact, too, that Mr. Justice O'Neill did not recommend that she or anyone else should stand aside. Rather, he said these are allegations and that he could not determine the truth of them but that a commission of investigation should examine them because they are serious. They are about a very senior level in An Garda Síochána. It would have been outrageous if such a smear campaign as has been alleged took place against the whistleblowers.

I spend much of my time as Minister for Justice and Equality ensuring that we have the strongest possible protections for whistleblowers, and that the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, is empowered to take complaints from An Garda Síochána. It is now setting up a special protected disclosure unit, which the Government will support. It would be outrageous if people were to be targeted in such a fashion as is being alleged. The consequences would indeed be very serious. I am conscious that in recent years, An Garda Síochána has been hit by a series of controversies and it was against that background that I moved to introduce significant reforms, including the establishment of the Policing Authority. It is a sea change in policing in this country to have an independent Policing Authority, which will grow, develop and have that oversight of An Garda Síochána, as well as having the ability to have public meetings, as it has done already. We have also strengthened the legislation in respect of GSOC and I recently announced that I would also carry out a ten-year review of the GSOC legislation. I met Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring, who is its excellent chair. Similarly, Ms Josephine Feehily is doing a really good job as chair of the Policing Authority.

All of these reforms will take time to bed down. Reform is ongoing in An Garda Síochána. It has to be ongoing. It does not happen overnight. Every action that I have taken from the point of view of resources and stronger legislation has been with the goal of having a respected and efficient force in which the public can have confidence. In the meantime, we have to deal with issues which arise by putting procedures in place to ensure that allegations are fully and fairly investigated. That is exactly what is being done in the proposal to establish a commission of investigation. While today is about statements and hearing Members' views, we will return to the House with the details of the draft order.