A tragically revealing statement - Garda commissioner besieged

COMMISSIONER Nóirín O’Sullivan’s Saturday statement on the two latest policing scandals may not be as chilling as her predecessor Martin Callinan’s January 2014 “I think it’s quite disgusting” passive-aggressive attack on whistleblowers but it was as misjudged and, tragically, as revealing.

That her statement was issued on a Saturday, albeit prompted by Taoiseach Enda Kenny, smacks of the desperation of the besieged. That it is straight out of the Garda circle-the-wagons handbook weakens the commissioner’s position. That she was unable to explain, in even the vaguest terms, the failure of supervision and ethics — her words — that led to the grossly exaggerated drink-driving test figures or how 14,700 wrongful convictions were secured weakens her position considerably. That vagueness also gives rise to the suspicion, however nascent, that she may not feel obliged to explain those implosions to the public. That An Garda Síochána were aware of the fake drink-driving figures since 2014 and the wrongful prosecutions since 2016 and are as yet unable to offer even a the-dog-ate-my-homework explanation pushed her position towards the untenable.

Though the commissioner was offered qualified support hissed through gritted teeth by Mr Kenny and Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald, Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan, unburdened by the prospect of having to make a decisive intervention, better reflected the gravity of the situation. He described the statement as “completely unsatisfactory” and said that his party could no longer express confidence in Ms O’Sullivan.