Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

37. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality her views on the findings of the O'Higgins Commission of Investigation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10137/16]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy is aware, I published the report of the O'Higgins Commission of Investigation into certain matters relevant to the Cavan/Monaghan Division of the Garda Síochána on the 11th of May. I want, again, to record my thanks to Mr Justice O'Higgins and his team for carrying out their task so expeditiously and for the thorough and thoughtful report. It deserves the most careful consideration so that we can all do everything possible to avoid a repeat of the issues which gave rise to it in the first place.

Using the wide range of statutory powers available to it, the Commission of Investigation has established, as definitively as it is possible to do, the facts surrounding the difficult matters it was asked to examine. Inevitably, Mr Justice O'Higgins reaches a number of conclusions about the roles played by a number of persons in the events outlined in his report. I hope all those affected can accept, as I do fully, that Mr Justice O'Higgins looked at the facts fairly and dispassionately and made every effort to do justice to the position of all.

Whatever controversies might have surrounded some of the issues dealt with in the report we should not lose sight of one central and unpalatable fact: that victims were not best served by the Gardaí in a number of these cases. That is as unacceptable as it is disheartening and we must take all measures open to us to ensure that these shortcomings are not repeated. It is victims who should be our central concern.

Some of the events investigated by Mr Justice O’Higgins go back almost a decade. For my own part, I believe that it is abundantly clear that the system we had in place up to a couple of years ago to deal with reports of wrongdoing within the Gardaí served no-one particularly well: not the people making the reports, not the people the subject of those reports, not the Garda Síochána and, above all, not the public. This situation has been significantly transformed in a number of respects. In particular, the Protected Disclosures Act 2014, which was part of the previous Government's comprehensive approach to enhance the protection available to whistleblowers, provides a new mechanism for protected disclosures relating to An Garda Síochána. Now, a Garda member may make a protected disclosure to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, a statutorily independent body with a comprehensive range of powers available to it. The Ombudsman Commission may, if it believes it is in the public interest to do so, investigate such a complaint. The Act also provides Gardaí who make protected disclosures with all the protections set out in the Act, including protection from dismissal and protection from penalisation.

Furthermore, there has been an unprecedented programme of Garda reform which, having had the honour of being reappointed as Minister for Justice and Equality, I am determined to continue to progress.

For all those changes which have taken place or are underway, it is important that we look specifically at what the report by Mr Justice O'Higgins has to say. In this regard, I have asked the Garda Commissioner to examine the report and to indicate to me what further measures might be taken by An Garda Síochána to prevent a recurrence of the particular issues dealt with in the report.

I have also forwarded a copy of the report to the Policing Authority in the context of its statutory role in relation to oversight of An Garda Síochána.

I very much appreciate that the events outlined in the report have been traumatic for many people who have been affected by them. It would be an injustice to those who brought events to light in the public interest and those who have lived under the shadow of these events for a long time, if we do not take on board the lessons from these events. I hope they can take some reassurance from the fact that the examination of those events in this report will help serve to consolidate a programme of reform which will ensure we continue to have a Garda Síochána in which its members and the community it serves can take great pride.