Garda whistleblower inquiry
Senator Bacik renews her call for a policing debate and welcomes reports of an independent scoping inquiry into Sergeant McCabe’s allegations, while retaining the possibility of a later commission of investigation.
Last week, as Deputy Leader, I dealt with a number of issues around the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, the response of the Government to the GSOC controversy and, on Thursday, the dossier that was provided by Sergeant Maurice McCabe. I said at that point that we should have a debate on policing generally and I would like to renew the call for such a debate. I know they have not yet been confirmed, but I would like to welcome the reports today from the Cabinet-----
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-----that a barrister will be appointed to conduct a scoping inquiry into the dossier and the allegations of the whistleblower. Let us not forget that a similar scoping inquiry by Mr. Shane Murphy, SC, led to the setting up of the Morris tribunal. It is entirely appropriate that that sort of independent review is carried out now without ruling out the possibility of a commission of investigation under 2004 Act in the future if the claims made, which are very serious, are warranted to be serious and substantiated enough to be investigated. These go back many years.
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The Minister has had the complaints for two years.
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I recommend that colleagues who did not see last night's "Prime Time" programme on this issue watch it, because it really clarified a number of issues, and Maurice McCabe was very impressive in providing the transcript, which the "Prime Time" team showed. Serious allegations have been made and I am really glad to hear reports from the Cabinet that an independent review will be conducted as a sort of scoping inquiry without ruling out a fuller commission of investigation in the future, as we saw with the Morris tribunal.
In addition, I welcome the result of the Constitutional Convention at the weekend. It was a real pleasure and privilege to be there for the final weekend session of the convention. There was a good attendance of all citizens and political representatives and it was great to see 85% of the convention delegates voting in favour of strengthened protection for economic, social and cultural rights in the Constitution. A recommendation will go to the Government regarding a referendum on that issue and I very much hope it will be supported by the Government. I again ask the Leader, who I acknowledge has already agreed to do this, for a debate on the final report of the Constitutional Convention as soon as it is published.