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The Government and Fianna Fáil were at loggerheads and the Garda Commissioner remained under pressure on Sunday amid a series of new controversies surrounding the force.
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said Garda Commissioner Noírín O’Sullivan should “consider her position” if she fails to provide clarity on the latest scandals, but she continues to have the backing of senior Government ministers and the Taoiseach.
Mr Martin’s comments have potentially serious implications as the Coalition relies on the support of Fianna Fáil to stay in power.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio on Sunday, Mr Martin was questioned about the position of the Garda Commissioner as she faces pressure over the handling of of new controversies this week.
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“In the context of these revelations I think the Commissioner should consider her position without question,” Mr Martin said.
He said he did not want to embroil the Dáil and gardaí in a political controversy, but added: “The bottom line here is we can no longer articulate confidence in the Garda Commissioner, or indeed at this particular point in time, in the administration of justice, until we get absolute clarity in plain language as to what happened here,” he said.
Mr Martin said if that clarity was not provided his party would not be in a position to articulate confidence in the commissioner.
Fianna Fáil earlier said a statement released on Saturday by Ms O’Sullivan was “not good enough” and that is becoming more difficult for the public to have confidence in her. The party said her statement made her “look like a bystander”.
However, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said on Saturday Ms O’Sullivan had his confidence albeit that the current controversies were “unacceptable”. Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar made similar comments on Sunday describing the revelations surrounding the Garda force as “unacceptable” but that Ms O’Sullivan was key to addressing those issues.
“I think from the point of view of the Government, the revelations that we’ve seen in the last couple of days really aren’t acceptable,” he told reporters at an event in Dublin. “ They’re appalling and it is important that there is accountability.
“The Government’s view though is that the Commissioner is part of the solution and she has put in place the two solutions to these problems in the past couple of months, so the Government has confidence in the Garda Commissioner, but obviously in light of what’s been said by some Independent Ministers, and also the leader of the opposition, we will discuss this further at Cabinet on Tuesday.”
Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said Ms O’Sullivan should not resign amid new controversies. “The culture of a head on a plate will not serve policing in the country well,’’ said Mr Creed. “I think the commissioner deserves the support of her colleagues in the force as well.’’
Speaking on RTÉ television programme The Week in Politics on Sunday a scenario could arise where a further series of issues were uncovered under her successor, if she resigned. "There is a process underway which will improve the gardaí over a period of time,'' he added. "And what I am saying is there is nothing to suggest the commissioner is an impediment to that reform processor, or is in any way personally implicated in what was uncovered.'' He said the commissioner deserved the Government's support on that basis and he had confidence in her in that regard.
Ms O'Sullivan said in a lengthy and defiant statement on Saturday that it is "inevitable" more examples of "bad practice" will be uncovered in An Garda Síochána.
In the latest debacle to hit the force, it has emerged that the Garda was informed almost three years ago that the number of drink driving breath tests it was claiming to carry out was too high. The Medical Bureau of Road Safety formed the view in July 2014 that test numbers published by the Garda "did not add up" and informed the force at the time. The Garda admitted on Thursday that just more than one million breath tests were carried out between 2012 and 2016, whereas it had previously claimed two million tests were conducted.
The Garda was also forced this week to give details of how 146,000 motorists were wrongly summoned to court for road traffic infringements after they had already paid fixed charge notices.
The latest controversies follow the setting up of the Charlton tribunal in February that will examine alleged attempts to undermine the professional and personal reputations of Garda whistle blowers who were reporting malpractice in the force (full explainer on that controversy here).
In the statement issued on Saturday Ms O’Sullivan said the Garda was undergoing “radical reform” under “my Commissionership” and she was “ad idem” with the Policing Authority that the issues around the falsifying of breath test statistics were matters of individual and collective behaviour and not simply a systems failure.
She said new processes and systems were now in place for the gathering and collating of breath tests statistics. The “corrective action” would be externally validated, she said, and this would “reassure the public”.
She said a helpline for drivers who may have been victims of the falsifications of breath-test statistics and illegal prosecution, would be “up and running” from Monday 3rd April. The phone number was not however provided.
The Taoiseach on Saturday described the latest controversies as unacceptable but reaffirmed his confidence in Commissioner O'Sullivan. Speaking in Rome, where he was attending a meeting of European Union leaders, Mr Kenny said the Government had expressed its concern over the revelations to Ms O'Sullivan.
“It’s not for Government to interfere with the running of the Gardaí. It’s an internal matter. But the Minister has already set out her very strong view about this and has expressed that very strong view to the Garda Commissioner,” he said.
“I would like the Commissioner to be very clear in her statement that she makes this evening about this that it’s not acceptable.”
The Taoiseach expressed confidence that the Government’s changes, aimed at strengthening Gsoc and the Garda inspectorate, and the establishment of an independent Garda Authority, would change the culture of the Gardaí.
“I have expressed confidence in the Garda Commissioner on quite a number of occasions. I continue to have confidence in her,” he said. “It’s not a question of Government interfering with the running of the Gardaí. That’s why we’ve made the very extensive reforms for the Garda and the running of the Garda that are now in place and that will have I think a very deep effect over the next number of years.”
The double controversy this week has plunged senior Garda management, particularly Ms O'Sullivan, into fresh controversy. Ms O'Sullivan took over from her predecessor Martin Callinan in March 2014.
The statement released by the Garda Press Office on behalf of the Garda Commissioner on Saturday is as follows:
An Garda Síochána today (Saturday March 25) confirmed that, as of April 2016, new processes and systems are in place for gathering and collating statistics on breath testing to obviate the possibility of recurrence of the discrepancies found in an internal investigation.
The Garda Commissioner has written to the Policing Authority seeking further review by the Garda Inspectorate of the discrepancies between real and claimed breath testing by the service.
“We’re looking at a problem that goes back more than a decade,” the Garda Commissioner said today. “This is an issue - as the Authority has pointed out - which is more than systemic. It’s about ethics. It’s about supervision. It’s about measurement. Most of all, it’s about trust. Accordingly, I’ve asked the Authority to consider requesting the Garda Inspectorate to:
1. Examine the processes and methodology utilised to identify the nature and extent of the problems.
2. Review the control measures put in place designed to address the issues.
3. Examine if the current processes regarding roadside breath testing are in line with best practice.”
In parallel, the Commissioner has directed newly promoted Assistant Commissioner Michael O’Sullivan and a team to undertake a further detailed analysis of the work undertaken to date; consider whether any further remedial actions need to be taken; and confirm whether the issues identified were the result of individual or system failings. An Garda Síochána will provide an initial report to the Policing Authority on this work within one month.
“What we’ve found thus far is totally unacceptable and not in keeping with the standards of a modern and professional police service,” the Garda Commissioner stated. “The Policing Authority and Garda management are ad idem that this is a matter of individual and collective ethical behaviour and not one of occasional systems failure. It is a matter of grave disappointment that this has apparently been happening for so long, unchallenged. Every single member of the organisation must recognise that their individual actions, in all areas of policing, reflects on the organisation as a whole and impacts on the trust between ourselves and the communities we serve. However, as evidenced this week, I am determined that where we identify problems in the organisation, we admit these issues publicly, take whatever corrective action is necessary and ensure they do not recur. That is what I expect of the organisation and what is demanded of us by the community.”
The Garda Internal Audit Section has also been tasked with examining the computer issue which led to wrongful legal cases being taken against drivers and their findings will be provided to the Authority on completion.
A help line to provide information to drivers affected will be up and running from Monday 03 April and more information will be provided on this in due course.
A detailed report and timeline which confirms when all these issues were identified; the approach to examining the issues; and the nature of the actions taken is being provided to the Tánaiste and the Policing Authority.
“We have taken corrective action,” Nóirín O’Sullivan concluded. “We are asking that the corrective action be externally validated. That will reassure the public. However, it is important to state at this point that when an organisation like An Garda Síochána is on a journey of radical reform, as it is under my Commissionership, it is inevitable that we will identify more examples of bad practice. In addition to correcting these issues, we must share that information, no matter how negative it is, not just with the Authority, but also with the public. Only through that openness can we sustain public trust.”