Jobstown trial accusations: Time to extend perjury options

IT is far easier to remember the times when the use of Dáíl privilege seemed an abuse — and that is always a subjective assessment — than it is to remember the many occasions the principle served our democracy well.

Comments made in the Dáil this week by Solidarity TD Paul Murphy, in which he accused gardaí of perjury during the Jobstown trial, have been referred by Ceann Comhairle Seán Ó Fearghaíl to the parliamentary legal adviser.

Mr Murphy was advancing, even if in a far more confrontational way, a suggestion made by Taoiseach Leo Varadkar who, arguing that people should be able to trust what gardaí say in court, said that Garda management should “look into” the evidence given by members of the force in the trial.