Justice Minister Shatter should go, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD tells him in Dáil

» John Hedges

An Phoblacht Editor

‘Play your part in building it by stepping aside and helping to encourage renewed public confidence in new policing structures’

JUSTICE MINISTER Alan Shatter should step aside to help renew public confidence in new policing structures, Sinn Féin Justice spokesperson Pádraig Mac Lochlainn TD told him during Wednesday’s Dáil emergency debate on the establishment of a Commission of Investigation into Garda illegal recordings of phone calls in Garda stations.

The debate follows the shock resignation of Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan after being visited by a top official in the Department of Justice on Monday night on the instructions of the Taoiseach. The Garda Commissioner was embroiled in an ongoing political and policing nightmare for the Government by his handling of the penalty points ‘fixing’ exposed by Garda whistleblowers. This included his description to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee of the whistleblowers’ actions as “disgusting” and his now-notorious refusal of Mary Lou McDonald’s invitation to him at the PAC to reconsider his strong words.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn told the Dáil on Wednesday that a succession of bad decisions by the Justice Minister, supported by the Fine Gael/Labour Government, “and intended to obstruct proper scrutiny of policing, have done untold damage to public confidence in the administration of justice and to An Garda Síochána”.

In a lengthy examination of the Justice Minister’s record, the Donegal deputy said:

“Minister, by your actions; through your dysfunctional relationship with the Garda Commissioner, and by your failure to deal properly and effectively with a series of highly-charged and important issues, you have undermined public confidence in the position of Minister for Justice, in the Department of Justice, in An Garda Síochána and in the administration of justice.

“And the appointment of a Commission of Investigation on the Garda taping of phone calls will not assuage public concern given the level of public distrust that now exists.

“I welcome the fact that the Government has now indicated a belated conversion to the need for a fully accountable, independent Garda Authority. However, the minister who will have responsibility for overseeing this process is the very minister who has been at the heart of all of the recent scandals.

“Minister, there is an opportunity for a step change, a new beginning, in policing, in policing structures and the administration of justice in this state – an opportunity to get politicians out of policing matters.

“To be successful, a new beginning to policing in this state needs a new Minister for Justice.

“The Taoiseach has said he will not ask you to resign. That is a mistake.

“But perhaps you could on this occasion take the right decision and, like your friend Martin Callinan, resign.

“Minister, there is widespread public support for An Garda Siochána.

“The service has unique, deep-rooted connections into local communities, connections which the Government is actively dismantling through its policy of closing Garda stations.

“But there is a culture of bad administration, a lack of accountable and oversight mechanisms and transparency.

“This culture – which smacks of cronyism, elitism and the corrosive, corruptive relationship with the elites – is now evident in other institutions of the state and which the government pledged to root out.

“It is a culture that betrays the sacrifice and integrity of rank and file gardaí.

“It is a culture that was evident in the failure to properly investigate cases like those of Fr. Molloy; or the Dublin Monaghan bombings.

It is a culture that stems, to a large degree, from the fact that, for many years, the legal, judicial and policing system in this state was allowed by political leaders to become an adjunct of British counter-insurgency strategy in the North.

“This resulted in special non-jury courts, a ‘Heavy Gang’ within the Garda who brutalised people in custody, serious miscarriages of justice and wrongful convictions and the abandonment of the principle that all citizens, including suspects held in Garda custody must have rights in our justice system.

“It is also evident in the Kerry Babies case; in the behaviour of some Garda in Donegal that was exposed by the Morris Tribunal; in the oppressive regime imposed on communities in Rossport in the Taoiseach’s own constituency; and in the Kieran Boylan affair, where senior Garda protected a drug smuggler.

“It was evident in the failure to properly investigate murders like that of Eddie Fullerton.

“There is now an opportunity to change this.

“That means creating an independent, accountable and transparent Garda Authority.

“Sinn Féin welcomes the Government’s belated conversion to the necessary reform but it is worth noting that neither Fine Gael or Labour put it in the Programme for Government.

“No police service, no senior police officer and no Garda Commissioner should be solely accountable to a politician no matter who that is.

“The Garda Commissioner should be fully accountable to that authority, as should joint policing committees, and all of that should be accountable to the Oireachtas.

“Minister, policing in this state has been for too long locked into structures that obstruct the building of a modern 21st century, accountable policing service.

“Play your part in building it by stepping aside and helping to encourage renewed public confidence in new policing structures.”