Today, the future of policing and justice in the State is at a crossroads. Public confidence in the management of An Garda Síochána has been shattered by scandal after scandal and there is a flagrant lack of accountability and a detached arrogance among the top brass. The extent of the damage done to the Garda cannot be overestimated - it is immense.

This issue is bigger than any political party. It is about the fundamental administration of justice. People across the country in every community are left scratching their heads as they wonder how someone who has messed up so badly and presided over fiasco after fiasco is still in her job. They are wondering how Nóirín O'Sullivan is still the Garda Commissioner. People rightly ask themselves how ordinary rank and file gardaí can be expected to account for their actions when their boss, the top garda in the country, is immune from that same basic standard of accountability. She has been given this immunity by the refusal of the Government, including the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, to act decisively and by Fianna Fáil's refusal to come off the fence.

Hear, hear.

No review or inquiry, no matter how robust or comprehensive, will be successful in addressing the dysfunctionality at the heart of the Garda while Nóirín O'Sullivan remains in office. It is as simple and clear cut as that. She has presided over a litany of catastrophes and her position is untenable. In no other walk of life would this be a matter for debate.

The Commissioner is not a new kid on the block. She has been the boss for three years and was deputy commissioner prior to taking the top post. It is unbelievable that the Tánaiste accepts the Commissioner's line that she must remain in her role to complete her "journey of work", as she describes it. This is the same journey of work that has fostered the list of debacles in which the Garda finds itself embroiled. Does this journey also include her speculating out loud as though she were some detached onlooker that the controversy around breath tests and motoring offences might not be the end of scandals surrounding the Garda? Is the Taoiseach okay with this frightening lack of accountability? He is in charge. This corruption, malpractice and mismanagement in An Garda Síochána is happening on his watch. We are agreed that it must be replaced with accountability, transparency and integrity from the top to the bottom, so the Garda Commissioner has to go. When will she go? When will the Taoiseach relieve Nóirín O'Sullivan of her duties?

I dealt with this last week. This is bigger than any political party, as the Deputy says. It is bigger than any individual, and it is about trust and confidence, it is about respect, it is about pride, it is about an organisation of 14,000 people - that rises to 15,000 people - being able to be seen to do their job professionally, competently and in the interests of the State in which we reside and the people to whom they have a duty of care in terms of both their security and their protection from criminal elements.

This goes back quite a distance, as the Deputy is well aware. I might say to her that the Government treats this with the utmost seriousness. The Tánaiste briefed the Cabinet this morning on her proposals for a commission on the future of policing in Ireland arising from the decision made last week by Government that there should be an independent analysis of the figures in respect of fixed notice penalties and the question of breathalyser statistics. Both of those have been referred to the independent Policing Authority, which, as the Deputy knows, has the full right to contract in any expertise - national or international - that it so wishes to look at those statistics and determine how they happened, why they happened, who is responsible and who is accountable.

The second decision that the Government made was on the longer term restructuring of An Garda Síochána, and that is not in any way to take from the valid propositions put forward by the independent Garda Inspectorate.

It is not to take in any way from the exceptional work now being carried out by the chairperson of the independent Policing Authority, Ms Josephine Feehily, or from the review and additional powers being sought by Ms Justice Mary Ellen Ring in respect of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC. The Minister is proposing to engage with this House and the Opposition spokespersons on putting together a review that will examine the management and structures of all the functions of the Garda Síochána, the composition, recruitment and training of personnel, the culture and ethos of policing, and the structures and legislative basis for oversight and accountability.

I am glad that the Garda Commissioner has published the modernisation programme. There is a whole raft of reforms currently under way, to which Deputy McDonald may not want to refer, but this commission, in which she will have a direct involvement, will be forward-looking in terms of what we want for the structure, method and recruitment of policing for years to come. The Minister will consult with the Opposition during the course of this week.

For the information of the House, last weekend, within the appointed time, I received the final report of the Fennelly commission. It was delivered to my Department after 6 p.m. last weekend. It is an extensive report which runs to over 740 pages. The executive summary runs to 85 pages. The report deals with the history of telephone recording systems, the level of knowledge of the system among gardaí, whether the recording was authorised by law or not, whether there was improper or unlawful use involved-----

The Taoiseach will have another minute later. I call Deputy McDonald.

This is important.

It may be.

Following the process here, I am statutorily bound to give that report to the Attorney General, which I have done. The Attorney General is now examining the report with her personnel. I expect to publish the report as soon as she informs me that I can do so. The Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality has not seen the report. I want this House to know that whatever its implications, they will have to be included in the recommendations that she makes for the future policing structures of An Garda Síochána. I would expect that later this week we might be able to deal with that.

I know all items are important. I am seeking a little co-operation. Members will have to tailor their contributions.

I thank the Taoiseach for the information in respect of the Fennelly report. We await its imminent publication.

I could not agree more with the Taoiseach that trust, confidence, respect and pride are exactly what we need. Despite the Taoiseach's talk about commissions and restructuring, and his repeated assertions of a need for accountability and modernisation, his actions shout against those motivations. The Taoiseach is still wedded to the old way of doing things. That is the reality. The reason he is slow to relieve the Garda Commissioner of her duties is, I assume, a fear on his part of contagion. It is politics that is directing this matter. I cannot see any other rationale for it. The rationale of the Taoiseach's friend, Deputy Micheál Martin, is fear of an election - more politics.

Nonsense. It is about trying to get a result as opposed to doing nothing for one's party.

What is getting lost in the midst of all of this is that we are now at a crossroads such that the decisions we take now will affect not only us and policing in the here and now, but generations to come. The Garda Commissioner's position is untenable. Sin é; that is the position. The commission and restructuring will amount to nothing if the Taoiseach is not prepared to take the first step in accountability and relieve the Garda Commissioner of her duties.

As I said earlier to Deputy McDonald, two advertisements have been placed this week by the independent Policing Authority for senior positions within an An Garda Síochána. That these appointments will be made by the independent Policing Authority is the most radical change made in the structure of An Garda Síochána since the foundation of the State. This will take some time to filter down through the ranks. What I said about trust, confidence, respect and pride is true, but also important are transparency and accountability. Deputy McDonald will be aware of how the chief superintendent of An Garda Síochána in the north inner city relates to the communities there on a regular basis.

Chief Superintendent Pat Leahy's position is not in question - Nóirín O Sullivan's position is in question.

The Taoiseach without interruption, please.

Everybody understands exactly what the Garda Síochána and gardaí on the ground are doing and the work that is being done in exceptional circumstances in many places throughout the country. To get this right, from the top to the latest recruit, we need to change the structure.

We cannot do that without involving the Members of the Oireachtas who carry messages from those who send them in here.

The Taoiseach is waffling.

The Deputy is focusing on one person only.

No.

It is much bigger than this.

No.

There are reforms in train. The modernisation report has already been published. The inspectorate report contains 73 recommendations.

Implement it.

They will be followed through over the course of the next five years, with more to follow.

The Taoiseach is in an old politics bubble.

All of this might not be enough for the Deputy, but it is very important-----

It is kind of tragic.

The Deputy is wrong.

-----in the context of having a police force that enjoys-----

Stop talking.

-----the trust and confidence of the people of this country.