Minister: confidence eroding in gardaí

A minister has admitted “confidence is eroding” in the gardaí following the latest revelations that a further 500,000 breath tests were false.

Skills Minister John Halligan made the comment as Taoiseach Leo Varadkar avoided answering questions on the future of Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan at two events yesterday.

On Wednesday, gardaí published two internal reports into the fake breath tests controversy after the documents were signed off by Cabinet.

The reports, to be followed by a separate external report by the Policing Authority of Ireland, found that the scale of the situation was far worse than previously thought.

While the report recommends disciplinary action against those involved, it made no comment on Ms O’Sullivan, who is abroad for an Interpol security meeting this week.

Mr Varadkar, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan, and other ministers continued to publicly back Ms O’Sullivan on Wednesday amid renewed pressure from all opposition parties for her to be removed from office.

Speaking to reporters at a Science Foundation Ireland event at Dublin Castle yesterday, Mr Halligan, an Independent Alliance TD, admitted the reality is that “confidence is eroding” in the force and that action may soon need to be taken.

“I think the Irish public deserve an explanation as to what has happened over the last number of years. The confidence in the gardaí, there’s no question about it, it is eroding, and I think we need to steady it,” he said.

“At the end of the day our only recourse if we have difficulties is to go to the gardaí, and have faith in all aspects of the gardaí. But I don’t think that’s the case at present.”

Asked what action should happen now, Mr Halligan said that “there are a number of commissions at present taking place and let’s see what happens over the next couple of months. When they review what has happened, we’ll see where we go from there.”

He said the reality is that “there is nobody in the country, there is no politician, who’d be comfortable with what has happened and we need to deal with it”.

“Right now I do [have confidence in Ms O’Sullivan] and there’s no reason I shouldn’t until we’ve seen all of the reports. There will then be a collective decision made by Government, including the Independent Alliance,” he said.

Mr Halligan made the comment to reporters at an event also attended by Mr Varadkar and Tánaiste and Enterprise Minister Frances Fitzgerald, who was previously justice minister — both of whom declined to take questions.

Mr Varadkar did not respond to a question on the Garda commissioner’s future at a later press launch at Government Buildings.

While Communications Minister Denis Naughten continued to publicly back Ms O’Sullivan in an RTÉ interview yesterday, opposition parties repeated their calls for her to be removed due to the damage the repeated scandals are causing to the reputation of the gardaí.