Yesterday the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, announced that he is referring the penalty points scandal to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. While Sinn Féin welcomes the decision to hold an independent investigation, a number of serious questions arise. It is almost two years since the Garda whistleblowers drew attention to irregularities in the implementation of the penalty points system. Rather than announce an independent investigation at that time, the Minister has chosen to do so just before a planned appearance by one of the whistleblowers at the Committee of Public Accounts.

The Taoiseach will recall saying that his Government's coming into office heralded a democratic revolution which would usher in a new era of political reform. Surely a key requirement of any serious political reform in this State would be to enhance the capacity of elected messengers of the people to ask the questions that need to be asked of public officials. Indeed, the Taoiseach said he wanted stronger Dáil committees which would be resourced properly. Now, however, when robust questions are being asked, we see once again that the real intention of the Government is to close down public scrutiny and frustrate oversight and accountability, including the work of the Committee of Public Accounts.

Is it not the reality that the sole reason for the protracted nature of this controversy is the failure by the Minister, Deputy Shatter, to deal decisively with this scandal in the first instance? Does the Taoiseach agree that the Minister has attempted to undermine the Committee of Public Accounts and has made the situation for future whistleblowers more difficult by his failure to defend the integrity of the whistleblowers in this case?

I am not sure what the Deputy's position is now in terms of whether he supports the Minister in what he is doing here. The central tenet of what the Minister has done is to keep respect and integrity in the Garda Síochána and in the process here. As Deputy Adams is well aware, the Committee of Public Accounts, over many years, always had an independence within the Houses of the Oireachtas to examine reports that were commented upon and presented by the Comptroller and Auditor General. In this case, where there was a reference to a financial loss to the State, there is a connection. At the same time, there is a whole range of other matters which the Minister had to take into account.

Yesterday the Minister announced that he is referring the allegations of improper cancellations of fixed-charge notices to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission for investigation. He sent a formal letter today to that effect and is also writing today to the Committee of Public Accounts requesting that it forward to the ombudsman commission any documentation it has that may be relevant to the investigation. The Minister is entitled, under section 102 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, where he considers it desirable in the public interest, to request the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission to investigate a particular matter, where it appears to the Minister to indicate that a member of the Garda Síochána may have committed an offence or behaved in a manner that might justify disciplinary proceedings.

The discussions taking place at the Committee of Public Accounts are a matter for that committee. The Minister for Justice and Equality has acted responsibly and decisively in referring this matter to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission for completely independent and objective analysis in as broad as a way as the independent commission thinks fit. I am glad to note that the Garda Commissioner is happy about this and will co-operate fully with the commission.

He is delighted.

I find it peculiar that Deputy Adams should raise the question of whistleblowers in the first place. He used to have a very different way of dealing with them himself.

Once again the Taoiseach avoided my question. I asked whether he agreed that the sole reason for the protracted nature of this controversy is the fact that the Minister did not deal with the scandal decisively in the first instance. The Taoiseach cannot have it both ways. He praised the work of the Committee of Public Accounts before saying the investigation into this matter must be truly independent, the implication being that the committee is not truly independent. Only last week, however, he referred to it as the watchdog for the public.

As well as the monetary issues involved, the Committee of Public Accounts also has a responsibility to consider good governance. I ask the Taoiseach not to join the Minister in undermining the rights of Deputies to raise all of these matters in the appropriate committee. He should take the opportunity now, rather than making snide and totally inaccurate remarks about me, to put on the public record that the Committee of Public Accounts is performing an important public service.

I will go further and state that the Garda whistleblowers are also performing an important public service. Does the Taoiseach agree that if the Minister is doing the right thing now, he would have done an even better thing if he had taken action when this controversy first broke more than two years ago? Will the Taoiseach give an assurance that the Garda Ombudsman Commission will have the power to question the Garda Commissioner and will be given full and unfettered access to the force's PULSE computer system?

Tá a fhios ag an Taoiseach go ndeirtear gurb í cumhacht na gceisteanna a chur an rud is bunúsaí i gcomhair dul chun cinn a dhéanamh. Tá a fhios sin ag an Taoiseach. Tá sé tábhachtach dúinne mar Theachtaí Dála a bheith in ann daoine a cheistiú. Sin an fáth go bhfuilimid anseo. Tá an ceart againn ceisteanna a chur ar dhaoine agus is léir sin. Táim sásta i ndiaidh freagra an Taoisigh go bhfuil sé an-soiléir go bhfuil an ceart sin faoi bhagairt. Tá an ceart atá ag Teachta Dála ceisteanna a chur faoin choiste faoi bhagairt anois leis an oidhreacht seo agus i ndiaidh freagra an Taoisigh.

Tabharfaidh mé freagra don Teachta ar an cheist a chuir sé orm. Ta an Coimisiún Ombudsman an Gharda Síochána fíor neamhspleách agus ní féidir liomsa rud ar bith a dhéanamh leis. Leagann an coimisiún síos na coinníollacha agus déanann sé féin an iniúchadh. Bhí mé ag éisteacht le duine atá ag freastal ar an gcoimisiún ar maidin agus dúirt seisean go bhfuil siad beagnach réidh le tosú, go mbeidh sé i bhfad níos leithne ná mar a bhí agus go mbeidh sé neamhspleách ar fad. Tá litir curtha ón Aire chuig an coimisiún agus is dócha go dtosóidh an coimisiún ar a chuid oibre go luath. Tá litir curtha ag an Aire freisin chuig an Coiste um Chuntais Phoiblí ag iarraidh orthu, má tá eolas ar bith acu, go gcuirfeadh siad chuig an gcoimisiún é.

Chuir mé ceist ar an Taoiseach faoin gcoiste.

Tá a fhios agam cén cheist a chur an Teachta orm.

Níor chuir mé ceist faoin gcoimisiún. Bhí mo cheist faoin gcoiste

Tá fhios agam, ach táim ag tabhairt freagra don Teachta faoin gcoimisiún. Chuir an Teachta ceist orm faoin gCoiste um Chuntais Phoiblí. Of course, the remit of the Committee of Public Accounts relates to value for money as opposed to matters of governance.

Good governance.

It has adhered to that remit over the years. The Minister for Justice and Equality cannot just refer a complaint by a garda against a colleague to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. It is because of the changing allegations that have been made that, in the public interest-----

They have not changed; they remain exactly the same.

-----the Minister is required to ensure that integrity, confidence and trust in the system will be retained. That is why the matter has been referred to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. I support him in that regard because it is exactly the right thing to do.

What the Committee of Public Accounts does in the context of its discussions is a matter for its members. I cannot interfere with the work of that committee.

It should be left alone and the Government should stop trying to gag Deputy Ross.

The only change is that the Garda Commissioner made a show of himself.

Will Members please stop making snide remarks? I cannot hear what is being said by the Taoiseach.

I do not believe it is good practice for information provided during a private session of a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts to be bandied about in the national media or for comments that could in any way be construed as straying outside of the remit of that committee to be made. The committee is doing its job but it is important that it should stay within its remit. As already stated, that remit relates to value-for-money matters. I know the committee will pursue its remit in the best way it sees fit.