I want to raise the issue of the suspended gardaí in the Limerick Garda division, which straddles some of County Clare, who were recently acquitted of wrongdoing. That was the right decision, but I am conscious that quite a number of more junior ranking gardaí are still under a veil of suspicion. Over the years, they have had laptops, mobile phones and other devices confiscated. It is important. The process has to conclude, but there are far too many people caught up in the net. During the term of the previous Dáil, at one point 108 gardaí across the entire country were under suspension. At that time, I read into the record a letter from one of those gardaí - I recently reposted it on social media - in which they talked about ending their life because of the huge strain that had been put on them. A threshold needs to be established whereby some matters should be dealt with under internal disciplinary processes and others should be dealt with in the context of criminal law. Not everyone can be suspended, dragged over hot coals and have their careers destroyed. There has to be some method of investigation beyond these court cases. There has to be an inquiry into all this.

I have spoken to Deputy Crowe previously about this issue and his concern for the gardaí involved. As is obviously the case, they were acquitted. They are not guilty. It is always the case, regrettably, that where people who are prosecuted for offences and acquitted, there are consequences for them deriving from that.

There is no mechanism in place to provide any remedy for a person who is prosecuted and then acquitted, and I do not think there would be public support for it. The Deputy has raised an inquiry in respect of the issues. If there is going to be an inquiry, we are into a full quasi-judicial process again and that is not in anyone's interest. We need to move on from this. The gardaí have been vindicated and they need to get back to doing what they do best, which is protecting the community. If there are gardaí who are traumatically affected by it, they need to get help and I urge the Deputy to pass that on to them.