I think the Taoiseach will agree that An Garda Síochána is central to our democracy and to the security of our State. Over recent years, unfortunately, the force has been mired in scandal and debacle, lowering morale and confidence within the force. We have had the whistleblowers' stories, the penalty points, the malpractice, the phone recordings, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, bugging, the 1 million fake breathalyser tests and, of course, the fixed charge notices which resulted in many thousands of people being wrongly charged. Now we have had very damning revelations pertaining to Templemore Garda College and the whole issue around the 42 bank accounts and the complete breach of procedures, law and accountability, which is an extraordinary story in itself.

The revelations of the director of human resources, John Barrett, are particularly damning about the culture that has protected this edifice for so long and the inaction of the senior management of An Garda Síochána, including the Garda Commissioner, in dealing with this issue in a transparent, accountable and effective way. Mr. Barrett met the Commissioner and other senior members of the force in July 2015. It was a two hour meeting, as far as he and others have testified, but in addition to that, it was clear that the head of legal affairs in An Garda Síochána, Mr. Ken Ruane, had written to the Commissioner stating that she had a legal obligation under section 41 of the Garda Síochána Act to make a section 41 report to the Minister. Section 41 of the Garda Síochána Act is very clear that significant developments that might reasonably be expected adversely to affect public confidence in the Garda Síochána should be notified to the Minister. That did not happen, even though the Garda Commissioner was given written notice by the head of legal affairs to do that, given all that had transpired in regard to Templemore Garda College.

Does the Taoiseach accept the Garda Commissioner did not discharge her legal obligations to inform the Minister for Justice and Equality of significant developments that would clearly adversely affect public confidence in An Garda Síochána, namely, the issues relating to Templemore?

It took 15 months from the date of being told she should do it by her legal adviser to having the Minister informed. Is that good enough? Could the Taoiseach indicate what the Minister for Justice and Equality has to say about this? Will the Minister come into this House and make a statement on these issues, and on that specific matter? Why would the Commissioner tell the Minister at that time? What is the issue? What was the problem? In the light of all that, do the Taoiseach and the Government still have confidence in the Garda Commissioner to discharge her duties and manage the Garda out of this series of debacles?

The first point Deputy Micheál Martin makes is important. I agree it is critical that the public and the Government have absolute faith and trust in the Garda Síochána and, clearly, that has been a matter in respect of which there has been pressure for quite some time. I have faith and every confidence in the Garda Commissioner to do her job. I must point out to the Deputy that the issues here are being examined by the Committee of Public Accounts, the Policing Authority and the Comptroller and Auditor General. It is appropriate that the work under way in that process should be able to be completed.

I would further point out that the work initiated here relates to a period quite a number of years ago. Action was taken by the Commissioner - when it was brought to her attention - in order that these matters would be dealt with conclusively. The Committee of Public Accounts is to meet again on 13 July. As I understand it, the Garda Commissioner will attend again at the committee to give evidence.

When the information was brought to the attention of the Minister, she sent it to the Policing Authority. The Deputy will be aware that the report contains recommendations which must be overseen by the Policing Authority. Obviously, the authority acts completely independently of both the Commissioner and the Government. I note that earlier today it made another appointment of an assistant commissioner in accordance with the new method of making senior appointments to the Garda.

Section 41 of the Garda Síochána Act enables the Commissioner of the day to send notices to the Minister for Justice and Equality. That is a matter of judgment for the Garda Commissioner.

Clearly, this process has not been completed and needs to be dealt with so that all of the evidence and facts can not only be ascertained but also judged. For that reason, the reform that is under way is quite extensive. The Deputy will be aware of the enhanced powers being sought in respect of GSOC, the Garda Inspectorate report, the independent Policing Authority and now the appointment of a commission to examine the structure of the Garda in the context of the way it is run and the mechanics of how it does its business. The commission will not be examining the qualities of any individual personality within the ranks of An Garda Síochána but will be looking at the structure overall so that the force can be seen to be professional and competent in terms of how it does its job in the interests of the people of the country, as one would expect.

The Government retains confidence in the Garda Commissioner. Obviously, in my view, it would be a mistake to personalise issues in respect of the new commission looking at the structure and the culture of the Garda. It is not about that. The work is under way by the Committee of Public Accounts, the Policing Authority and the Comptroller and Auditor General. They should be entitled to finish their work and report on it.

The Act does not enable the Commissioner, it legally obliges the Commissioner. The Taoiseach is trying to wash this issue away, day after day, week after week. Does the Taoiseach not get it? The thing is completely untenable and unacceptable in light of what we have heard here. The reports in 2008 and 2010 into Templemore were hidden from the audit committee and they were denied. Mr. Barrett points out that requests for copies of previous audits in 2008 and 2010 were denied to the audit committee and described this as a "bizarre course of action". It is absolutely bizarre. How much more does it take for the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice and Equality to get it? This matter demands urgent action on the part of the Government. The Taoiseach has the power to do it.

The Policing Authority has a role. This is stretching the credibility of the force to its very limit, and with it the Government's credibility as well, in terms of its seeming paralysis in acting on the issue. I urge the Taoiseach to read the material that has come into the public domain and assess it himself because I get the feeling he is glossing over it and passing it on to various other agencies and bodies.

Deputy Martin's time is up.

This is extremely serious and it is time the Taoiseach acted on it. I would appreciate if he would indicate to me whether the Minister for Justice and Equality is prepared to come into the House to issue a statement on the latest revelations and to take questions on them.

The latest revelations are part of a very extensive report produced by a very competent civilian. The report is now before the Committee of Public Accounts. I am quite sure Deputy Micheál Martin, with his long experience in here, realises the importance of the committee and the independent way it is entitled to do its business. The Minister has sent the information to the Policing Authority because there are recommendations that must be overseen by it, and that independent body will see that this happens.

Deputy Martin stated I do not seem to get it. The situation is that this work is under way. The Comptroller and Auditor General is examining the issue and the Committee of Public Accounts is examining it. The Policing Authority will do its job in terms of monitoring and oversight of what is involved. The Minister for Justice and Equality has been here on so many occasions about issues relating to the Garda-----

Exactly. Has the penny not dropped? That is the point.

-----and that is why the reforms the Government has put in place will deal with the nature, culture and structure of what has evolved in the Garda Síochána for so many years. As the leader of Fianna Fáil, Deputy Martin knows that over many years this culture has moved to a point where it is no longer acceptable and that is why this Commissioner is taking action in accordance with Government requirements to ensure that those matters are sorted out.

She did not take action on this issue.

This is shocking.

That is why the new commission to look at the structure, professionalism and competency of how the Garda is run is important in terms not of personalities but of that structure.

The Taoiseach should read the documentation.

There is a complete denial of the facts.

It has been 15 months.

I do get it, but I think it is important that the Committee of Public Accounts is able to do its job.

I raised the matter here a month ago.

The Minister has no problem coming in here-----

Good. She should come in tomorrow.

-----to answer questions about matters relevant to the Department of Justice and Equality but there is no point in jumping to conclusions before allowing the agencies and committees that are vested with the authority to report to do so.

I thank the Taoiseach. We are way over time. I call Deputy Gerry Adams.

Contrary to the Taoiseach's assertion a moment ago, the Comptroller and Auditor General is not examining this issue. In fact, it was kept from him. Yesterday, I raised these matters with the Taoiseach and the fact that John Barrett, the head of Garda human resources, had handed over documentation to the Committee of Public Accounts that completely contradicts the evidence provided to the committee by Garda Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan last Thursday. I raised that along with a raft of other scandals that have shaped Ms O'Sullivan's leadership of An Garda Síochána and, once again, the Taoiseach expressed his confidence in the Commissioner and he did that again a moment ago.

Last night the details of the 122-page document provided by Mr. Barrett emerged in the public domain. The information provided is damning. Mr. Barrett states that the actions taken by senior gardaí in response to financial irregularities at Templemore would be seen as a cover-up. The financial irregularities include how moneys generated from various Garda College areas were moved outside the purview of the normal accounting practices and into some 42 unauthorised accounts. Mr. Barrett further claims that Garda auditors were purposely kept in the dark about what was happening. The Garda Commissioner has claimed she was not aware of the scale of the irregularities two years ago. She said it was mentioned in a brief chat. However, the documents provided by Mr. Barrett support his position that he first raised these concerns about financial irregularities at Templemore in July 2015 with Commissioner O'Sullivan, Assistant Commissioner John Twomey and the head of Garda legal affairs, Ken Ruane. The meeting was a detailed discussion that lasted for over two hours. Mr. Barrett also claims that Commissioner O'Sullivan failed to act on advice from the head of Garda legal affairs to inform the Minister for Justice and Equality about the irregularities discussed in July 2015.

The Commissioner does not have flexibility. She has a statutory obligation to do so under the Garda Síochána Act, yet the Minister remained silent this morning. In fact, the Minister remains absent this afternoon. As I told the Taoiseach yesterday, accountability or the lack of it is the key issue underpinning all of these controversies and scandals. That goes to the heart of public alienation in public life and politics, and disillusionment with State agencies. This is unacceptable. What is happening is a waste of taxpayers' money. It is all the more alarming because An Garda Síochána is the body that is supposed to be enforcing the law. Those are not my words, they are the words of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Leo Varadkar, this morning.

The fact is that there is no accountability for those in high places. Can one imagine a poor, powerless person getting away with even a smidgen of these offences? My question to the Taoiseach is simple. He says he has confidence in the Commissioner and maybe he has good reason for that. We do not know it or share that, but he should explain to us why he has confidence in the leadership of An Garda Síochána.

Deputy Adams made a point about the leadership of An Garda Síochána under Commissioner O'Sullivan. These events took place quite a number of years ago and is it not only right and proper that we should find out the truth and facts about them? That is why the Committee of Public Accounts is investigating this matter and looking at it. That is why the Policing Authority will oversee the recommendations of the information that is being sent to it. Remember that it was Commissioner O'Sullivan who acted on this. She is the first Commissioner since these events happened to take action. She is the Commissioner in situ when the greatest reform of An Garda Síochána in the history of the State is taking place. That is led by the Government decision, which was quite controversial at the time, to set up an independent Policing Authority. This morning that authority made an independent appointment of another assistant commissioner. It does take time for these things to evolve to a point where that culture will be seen to change and be accepted as such by the public. That is why the Government's decision to have a root and branch analysis of the structure and the way in which the Garda Síochána is run is now beginning to take place. It will be appointed formally next week.

Mr. Barrett has obviously written his report in great detail and it is right for it to be examined by the Committee of Public Accounts. That committee, which is charged with examining this matter, is entitled to produce its report and findings in the same way as it produced a detailed report on Project Eagle, out of which has come a decision by the Government to have a commission of investigation.

The Garda Commissioner, in situ, is taking action and is responsible to the Policing Authority for the way the Garda Síochána is now being run.

That is a laugh.

What action?

The Policing Authority will make its findings in respect of the oversight there. The Minister for Justice and Equality has no problem in attending the House and has done so on many occasions in recent years, dealing with controversies in the Garda Síochána. These are matters that have to be dealt with and will be dealt with. I would like to see the Committee of Public Accounts meeting on 13 July being able to do its job. That is what it was set up for, in part. I would like to think they will have the Garda Commissioner there to answer the charges the Deputy is making here in respect of differences between what Mr. Barrett says in is report and the evidence the Commissioner gave at the Committee of Public Accounts.

I presume the Taoiseach accepts that all is not well. Despite this, I asked him why he had confidence in the Commissioner and he ignored that question. The Taoiseach said he set up an independent Policing Authority, but he did not. He set up a Policing Authority but it is not independent. He refused our motion in that regard and is only now moving slowly in that direction. These are serious allegations of malpractice, corruption and breaches of the law. I brought even more troubling allegations to the attention of the Taoiseach and the Minister for Justice and Equality 18 months ago, yet the Taoiseach did nothing about that. It appears that he is going to do nothing about the Garda Commissioner before he leaves office.

I have been trying to understand why this is so. As I watch all of this unfold, I have genuinely been wondering why the Taoiseach does not move on this matter. Is it because the institutions are all in this together? I do not mean that the Taoiseach is complicit or is in a conspiracy, I just mean that the institutional instinct is to leave things be. It is to protect the establishment and not to move unless one is absolutely forced to take action. There is no other rational explanation for why the Taoiseach will not remove the Garda Commissioner from office. He has a second chance to give us an explanation as to why he has confidence in the Commissioner.

It seems that Deputy Adams wants to continually tick boxes and ask for another head on another plate. Does he not think that it is appropriate that the most influential committee of this House, the Committee of Public Accounts, be allowed to do its job? On occasions in the past, people associated with the Deputy's party have been the subject of television programmes on a variety of issues, but nothing was ever wrong there. All is not well here. Neither I nor anybody else can stand over a situation where the issues that have been raised are not identified and dealt with factually and in full. If money was shifted or misappropriated------

That is exactly what happened.

That is accepted.

-----or money was diverted, as we now have some evidence of having happened in Templemore-----

It is accepted.

There is no argument.

-----it was this Commissioner who took action to find out what exactly had happened.

It has gone way beyond all of that.

That is why it is necessary for the Committee of Public Accounts to be allowed to do its job, finish its report and present it to the House. The Minister for Justice and Equality will have no difficulty in coming before the House, as necessary-----

Will she come in today?

-----as she does for Questions to the Tánaiste and Questions to the Minister for Justice and Equality, to give an account of her stewardship of her Department in this matter.

When will she come in?

I say again to the Deputy that the terms of reference set out for the commission's analysis of root-and-branch activities include: the structure and management arrangements apply for An Garda Síochána; the appropriate composition, recruitment and training of the men and women who serve in An Garda Síochána; the culture and the ethos of policing; the appropriate structures for oversight and accountability; and the legislative framework for policing. That is the focus of the new commission, in order that we can all be happy that, over a period, the Garda force will have the trust, confidence, professionalism and wherewithal to do its job as the people of the county would expect.

That is a fantasy land.

This is a matter that needs to be dealt with and is being dealt with. I hope the Deputy agrees that the Committee of Public Accounts and the other oversight bodies should be allowed to do their work.