Yesterday, the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, decided that three more gardaí in Limerick should not be prosecuted for fixed charge offences and perverting the course of justice. This follows on from five gardaí, one a retired superintendent, being found innocent in a recent court case. Two more gardaí had their suspensions lifted after five years, and one other garda is in mediation at the moment. Sitting where the Tánaiste is sitting, the Taoiseach a few weeks back said there should be an inquiry into what happened in Limerick. Why was Limerick picked on? These 11 gardaí have had their lives destroyed because once you are suspended or charged as a garda, nothing is ever the same again. The morale of the force in the mid-west has collapsed. The prosecution of many criminal cases never went ahead. It is likely that these 11 gardaí will sue the State, and rightly so. Given that it seems the whole house of cards for all of these cases revolved around retired Superintendent Eamon O’Neill’s collapsed prosecution, and everyone else being collateral damage, will the Tánaiste support an inquiry into what happened in Limerick, why this went ahead, and why those in other divisions and senior gardaí, who would also have been acting in a similar way, were not prosecuted like these 11 individuals? Will the Tánaiste support an inquiry in relation to this? I am not going to stop until one is launched.

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