It has been a very difficult week for the Tánaiste and on behalf of Fianna Fáil I would like to extend best wishes to him and his family. Politics is a tough business. It has been a hard few days and we wish the Tánaiste well personally. I know he is not retiring from politics per se.

The Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, Mr. Brian Purcell, appeared before the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Justice, Defence and Equality yesterday. Unfortunately, he would not and did not answer any questions surrounding the events of the departure of the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan. In effect, both Mr. Purcell and the Taoiseach are now hiding behind the Fennelly commission. This is treating the Oireachtas and the public with disdain. There is no legal obstacle as to why Mr. Purcell could not have come before the committee yesterday and answered questions about Mr. Martin Callinan's departure. Similarly, there is no legal obstacle as to why the Taoiseach could not answer questions here yesterday on his role in that departure.

Following the resignation of the former Minister, Deputy Shatter, we heard much about a cultural sea change we would see in the area of justice and about new openness and transparency. It appears that all of that now amounts to little more than a hill of beans. We are not seeing any evidence of that type of change whatsoever. We have a farcical situation where the new Minister for Justice and Equality is not in a position to express confidence in her Secretary General. In what company would it be acceptable for a CEO to say she could not say whether she had confidence in the head of operations? This is not a tenable situation and it must be addressed.

We still have no answer to the fundamental question as to why the Taoiseach dispatched Mr. Brian Purcell to the house of Mr. Martin Callinan to do his dirty work for him and, effectively, deliver a P45. Why did that happen? We still have no answer to that question. We read in today's Irish Independent that Sergeant Maurice McCabe has been forced out of work on sick leave and has lodged 13 separate complaints pertaining to bullying and harassment. If that is true, it does not represent much of a seachange or cultural shift. Following everything that has happened, if it is true that this is how he is being treated, is it not a damning indictment of the State at this time? Why is it the Acting Commissioner, Ms Noirín O'Sullivan, said yesterday at the committee that senior managers were in contact on a daily basis with Sergeant Maurice McCabe, but we hear the complete opposite from sources very close to him? We need answers to that question.

Does the Tánaiste accept there are no legal obstacles preventing the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality, Mr. Brian Purcell, or the Taoiseach from giving this House or a parliamentary committee a full explanation of the circumstances that led to the forced resignation of the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan?

I thank Deputy McGrath for his good wishes. I confirm I am not retiring from politics and plan on being around for a while.

We all know that the issues in regard to An Garda Síochána have required to be addressed for a long time, long before the current Government came into office. In the course of a relatively short period of time this year, we have put in place a number of decisions which will radically change the way in which An Garda Síochána is managed and how it reports to the public. The critical pillar in this is the establishment of an independent Garda authority. This is something the Labour Party has been seeking for a long time and I am glad the Government has now made the decision to proceed with it.

The issue of how to deal with whistleblowing is another issue. We have had significant discussion here and in public on how to deal with whistleblowing and whistleblowers. The Government is introducing legislation that will provide protection for people who draw attention to wrong-doing and this legislation will apply to An Garda Síochána. I believe that any member of the Garda who wants to report wrong-doing should be able to do that without fear of any kind of recrimination.

We have also established a number of means by which issues that remain can be worked through, such as the Fennelly commission which will address the issue of the resignation of the former Garda Commissioner and issues surrounding that. The Deputy's question is essentially a legal one. I am not a lawyer so I cannot give him a legal answer. It is important that all of the issues which are being addressed by the Fennelly commission are fully aired and that everybody who has information to give to that commission should do so. This obviously includes the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality.

The truth is the truth, whether it is told to the Fennelly commission, the Oireachtas committee or the Members of this House and the people. The truth does not change. There is no impediment, legal or otherwise, preventing Mr. Purcell or the Taoiseach from coming before the parliamentary committee or this House and providing answers as to what exactly happened and what led to the forced departure of the former Garda Commissioner, Mr. Martin Callinan. That fact has not changed and we still do not have an answer to that question. That answer must be forthcoming.

The Tánaiste outlined the policy response and I agree there has been positive movement in a number of respects. However, a number of disturbing features have emerged in recent days. First is the fact that Sergeant Maurice McCabe clearly feels he is not being properly treated within An Garda Síochána. If media reports are to be believed, he has lodged 13 separate complaints. Why is that happening? Why is it the Acting Commissioner was under the impression that Garda management was in daily contact with Sergeant McCabe when the evidence points in the other direction? The Minister, Deputy Fitzgerald, needs to contact the Acting Commissioner to get to the bottom of that matter immediately.

Why are Mr. Purcell and the Taoiseach not willing to provide a free and open account of the events that led to the resignation of Mr. Martin Callinan? That is not an issue that can just be buried in the Fennelly commission. It is an issue of fundamental public importance. If we are to restore confidence in the justice system, there is an imperative that these answers are forthcoming now. There is no reason we must wait for the Fennelly commission to conclude its work.

It was 12 years ago, I think, that my colleague, Brendan Howlin, and a former Deputy, Jim Higgins, were given information in regard to disturbing issues concerning gardaí in County Donegal. Deputy McGrath's party, Fianna Fáil, was in power at the time and it took it two years to respond to those issues and to establish the Morris tribunal, which met over a long period of time. When that tribunal reported, Fianna Fáil effectively did nothing about the report.

Problems in An Garda Síochána did not start when this Government came into office. Problems in the Garda did not start six months ago. The difference now is that the Government has acted in order to address the issues. Within the space of a number of months, we have made changes to the management, the structures around the Garda, to the way in which it reports and to the establishment of means of getting to the bottom of issues that require to be fully investigated. We have done this in a space of time that Fianna Fáil did not do when in government. If we set up a commission and ask it to do a job, it should be allowed to do its work. I do not have any doubt but that the Fennelly commission will do its job and that anybody who has information to give to that commission will give the full information and there will be no question in regard to information or the truth being made fully available.

It goes beyond the question of information and what is being told to a commission.

It is also about what we do about it. We have had repeated investigations of one kind or another. Tribunals have been set up here and tribunals have been set up there. They go on for years and by the time they are finished nobody can remember why they were set up in the first place.

Hear, hear.

More importantly nothing is ever done about it. The difference this time is that the action is taken with an independent Garda authority being established and a different way of the Garda Síochána reporting to the public about what is a service to the public.

That is our Bill, the Independents' Bill.

It is past time that the structures that were established in an entirely different era in the 1920s were changed. They are now being changed with a new Garda authority, whistleblowers legislation that will cover the Garda Síochána and investigations that will get to the bottom of any issue of wrongdoing in the Garda Síochána.

What is the answer to the question?

Business as usual.