There has been a bit of a delay in commencing this Act. That is not completely the Minister's fault, but there is a concern as to why it took this long. I have no issue with passing these Votes. The Minister explained the position quite well. I do have concerns about how we got here. I am coming at this from the Eddie Molloy version of the original report, that is, the second version. Handing over the powers of the Policing Authority to the Garda Commissioner is wrong. If I was sitting where the Minister is sitting, I would reverse that immediately. I have to be honest about that, particularly as this is how we ended up with all the issues, tribunals and everything else previously. The proposal to turn the Garda Commissioner into a CEO in order that he or she will be the Accounting Officer is very interesting, especially in light of the issues we have had in the past. What were Garda Commissioners doing in the past? What we should have done is allowed the Policing Authority, which was bedding in, to continue and given it additional further powers. When we debated the legislation, I read the memorandum relating to it. I was shaken because the memorandum states that the legislation "will facilitate the Minister’s Department in pulling back from involvement in day-to-day management of An Garda Síochána while also providing objective assurance to the Minister in relation to governance standards within An Garda Síochána". Why would the Department of Justice be involved in day-to-day management of An Garda Síochána in the first place? Every response to parliamentary questions I have sent to various Ministers for Justice tells me that he or she has no role in the matter. To put that into a memorandum says a lot. The Department of Justice should not be involved in the day-to-day management of An Garda Síochána. The structures that are put in place have to be robust enough, otherwise the Oireachtas will have a job to do to ensure that standards are maintained and that there is accountability. I have concerns about the way in which the board will operate. I also have concerns regarding senior appointments in An Garda Síochána and how they will operate. There is an issue historically whereby An Garda Síochána, at a certain level, has a certain culture, which is that it does not tolerate anybody who steps out of line when it comes to protect the public interest. I refer to people whistleblowing, making protected disclosures or just trying to do the right thing. We saw the farce regarding the issue with a bicycle last year. There are also a number of other issues, which I have raised in this Dáil with the Minister in the recent past and on which I am assured he went to the Commissioner.

Sentiment score: 0.16

The Minister has not made any public statements about these matters or in respect of defective holsters. The Minister believes that what I put on the record of this Dáil was accurate. It was accurate. There is also the matter of how 8 kg of drugs were found in Garda headquarters, as well as the issues relating to firearms. I understand the Garda Commissioner went looking for these firearms. It was a bit late to do so. Given all these things, there is a serious issue around the structures being in place. The structures were not in place in the past, so these structures have to be robust enough into the future to ensure all of those matters are dealt with. There will be ongoing issues. I am delighted that GSOC is gone. I hope the new structures will work. They will if the right people are in place. The first person may very well have already been appointed. GSOC was not bloody well fit for purpose. Imagine being in a coroner's office when a garda finds out that he is to be prosecuted. I raised that matter in the Dáil. I had a window of about six days to raise before the garda in question was charged. I had to. That should not happen. The whole system relating to how gardaí in Limerick and some gardaí in Dublin are being dealt with is outrageously wrong. I am not saying that people did not do some things that were wrong, but proportionality has to come into this. I also want to raise some other issues relating to the Vote and how funding has at times gone askew in the context of An Garda Síochána. Is the Minister aware or can he confirm that quite a number of rounds of defective ammunition were purchased by An Garda Síochána in 2017 and 2018 and that these ended up being destroyed? This was at a loss to the taxpayer. This was .416 mm ammunition. Will the Minister indicate what happened in this instance? Will he find out and send on the information? Why did we bring in this ammunition at a cost to the State only for it to end up being destroyed? More importantly, why did we allow it to be out with An Garda Síochána for a considerable period, thereby putting gardaí on duty at risk? The Minister is well aware of this issue because I have tabled parliamentary questions on it. One or two of them actually got past the Ceann Comhairle. I say that in jest. Why was there repair and servicing for privately-owned firearms by An Garda Síochána? These were firearms that were brought in which were not for An Garda Síochána; they were snuck in. They were for the use of a hunt and pony club based in Kildare. The taxpayer is paying for this. We are talking tonight about the Vote but it is the taxpayer who pays for this. I know the Minister is aware of this too because I said it to him. The Department is also aware. It is mind-boggling how a firearm component was brought into the State. I have supplied information on this matter to the Minister. The Minister for Justice was potentially deceived by way of a false instrument being placed before the Department, because it had to sign off on this coming in. I have also given all the details on this to the Minister. I am really concerned about whether the Garda Commissioner fulfilled his statutory obligation under section 41 of the Garda Síochána Act in respect of the investigation into this matter. I have referred to defective ammunition, how privately owned firearms were brought in by Garda personnel and how the importation of a firearm component potentially was done in such an underhanded way that a Minister was deceived. These all had impacts on the Vote. They all had impacts on funding being given to An Garda Síochána. This was the standard that was there. Please ensure that the structures in place now will make sure that these types of occurrences never bloody well happen again.

Sentiment score: 0.02