Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil is beginning to realise that this is a really serious matter. According to Fianna Fáil, its decision is based on the contradictory evidence on the Garda College issue that was given at the Committee of Public Accounts. When Sinn Féin tabled a motion several weeks ago calling for the resignation of the Garda Commissioner, Fianna Fáil opposed it on the basis that a Garda Commissioner cannot be removed other than by the Government of the day. I suggest the only circumstances in which a Government would contemplate such a move would be if a majority in the Dáil voted for it to happen. This brings into focus again the complex nature of the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition. There appears to be a threshold of scandal that the Government will tolerate. Fianna Fáil will tolerate a certain amount of wrongdoing and corruption, but when it passes a certain point, it tips off its partners and tells them to act. The Garda Commissioner lost public confidence a long time ago, and she should leave or be removed from office. I look forward to some clarity from Fianna Fáil on when exactly it decided the Commissioner needed to go. One scandal is one scandal too many. That is why Sinn Féin tabled the motion. I welcome the appointment of Kathleen O'Toole to chair the commission to examine Garda reform. However, I believe that root-and-branch reform of An Garda Síochána cannot take place while Commissioner O'Sullivan remains in office. Now that most parties are calling for the Garda Commissioner to be removed, I ask the Minister for Justice and Equality come to this House to tell us exactly what she proposes to do. Good and decent rank-and-file gardaí are paying for the public's loss of confidence in the force. That is not fair and it is not reasonable. It is not fair to the people the gardaí are serving and it is certainly not fair to the gardaí themselves. This has to be rectified sooner rather than later.