Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's statement in the House and the proposal to establish a commission of investigation. Mr. Justice Peter Charlton is eminently suitable to carry out this role and will do so in a diligent and fair manner and get to the bottom of any allegations. I have had occasion to deal with him in the past and find him to be a person of the utmost integrity so I salute the Minister on her choice of individual to lead up this. It is important to get the motion right. I believe the Minister is going about it in the correct way through discussing and taking on board appropriate and constructive suggestions from both Houses.

It is regrettable that Senator Clifford-Lee decided to make significant political charges that are clearly not true. It is fair to say that we reopened Templemore, which had been closed by the Fianna Fáil Government. It is correct that we now have protected disclosures legislation. We established the O'Higgins commission of investigation to identify shortcomings in the Department of Justice and Equality that had existed during the 15 years during which Senator Clifford-Lee's party was in government. Those changes have been implemented. We have a very fine Minister for Justice and Equality who is pushing through significant reforms and bringing credibility back to the Department and all the policing services. We now have a Policing Authority which only last week introduced a code of ethics for An Garda Síochána. All these moves re-establish credibility in the justice system, including the Department of Justice and Equality, and must be welcomed. The work the Minister has done can be seen in the Behaviour & Attitudes survey, which is carried out on an annual basis by An Garda Síochána, in spite of everything that has been said here today and in other fora. The gardaí enjoy the confidence of 86% of the Irish public, which is up from 68% a number of years ago, so it is not all bad.

I regret what happened yesterday in the other House, and I said so here this morning. I know the Committee on Procedure and Privileges for the Seanad is preparing a note on parliamentary privilege because it is a unique and very important right we have as elected Members of the Oireachtas. I do not believe that Deputy Howlin's actions yesterday were appropriate. I believe his car-crash interview on "Morning Ireland" has demonstrated even to himself that his actions were not appropriate. Deputy Howlin's reaction after the clip of Deputy O'Callaghan was played was pitiful given that Deputy Howlin has 30 years experience in Dáil Éireann, far more experience than any of us. We must all be careful here. We all have responsibilities. We will, as part of a collaborative effort between all parties, get the motion right in terms of the establishment of the commission of investigation. At that stage, we should let Mr. Justice Charlton go about his business and do his work without any ongoing public discourse about his work.

The Commissioner enjoys my full support and that of Fine Gael and the Government, which I think is appropriate. The one thing we pride ourselves on in this country is our commitment to fairness, due process and the principle of innocent until proven otherwise. I believe this is appropriate. I do not agree with Senator Craughwell that the Commissioner should stand aside because that in itself is an admission that there are questions and issues to be answered. It is up to Mr. Justice Charlton and the commission of investigation to establish what questions must be answered and whether they have been answered properly, effectively and appropriately. It would be best for us to get the terms of reference for the commission of investigation right and then let Mr. Justice Charlton get on with his business.