Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin has accepted the terms of reference to establish a tribunal of inquiry into the whistleblower claims and the treatment of Sergeant Maurice McCabe. Sergeant McCabe and Katie Hannon have done the State a service. We now have much more comprehensive terms of reference compared with what was in place previously. Sinn Féin met the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality yesterday about the terms of reference and suggested a number of amendments to them that were aimed at making the tribunal as open, accountable, and comprehensive as possible. Six of the amendments were accepted in some format and we welcome the Tánaiste's willingness to engage with Members of the Opposition on the matter.

We also welcomed that the case of Keith Harrison was accepted and included specifically in the draft terms of reference. We note there is a clause within the terms of reference that will allow for other whistleblowers to be included in the inquiry. We wanted other whistleblowers to be included and we are pleased there is scope for the judge to come back and request an additional module.

Importantly, Sinn Féin wanted to see whether there was a pattern of behaviour among senior Garda managers in how they dealt with whistleblowers and the media. We believe there was potentially a pattern of behaviour where media figures were used to discredit whistleblowers when the whistleblowers were saying, quite reasonably, that there were systemic and chronic problems within An Garda Síochána. There is a consistent line of bullying and harassment present where gardaí stated that there were problems. We could be forgiven for suggesting that had the recommendations of the Morris tribunal been implemented in full, we would not be where we are today.

There are clear problems with how An Garda Síochána functions. The Garda Commissioner is the subject of this tribunal and is expected to oversee reforms implemented on the back of other reports that have been published. The Commissioner is the person who oversees the safekeeping of evidence that will be central to this inquiry. It is completely unacceptable that the Garda Commissioner will remain in place while this inquiry is ongoing. It is mind-boggling that it is being allowed to happen. That the Government is willing to stand over that is typical of its arrogance. New politics appears to accept an alleged criminal conspiracy by senior gardaí to destroy the character of a decent citizen doing his duty and that the Government that has allowed this to happen would remain in office. The Government should not have voted in favour of itself in the Dáil. The Government is merely stumbling from one crisis to the next and it is no longer acceptable. Citizens deserve better. Maurice McCabe and his family deserve better. We want Sergeant McCabe to have the truth and we want the persons who have wronged him to be accountable for their actions. Although, ideally, we would have liked more time, it is for that reason we support the terms of reference.