GSOC crisis - Hornets’ nest kicked over

If the Government, Justice Minister Alan Shatter, Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan had responded to the story about GSOC bugging, then the ripple effect spreading right across our justice and policing systems, and our Government, might have been avoided.

In many ways, it is as well that the hornets’ nest has been kicked over and that the scene is set for a cathartic review of how our police force interacts with their political masters, and — most importantly — how the political culture that still thinks accountability is a fuzzy irrelevance only to be discussed at election time.

Despite all of the high dudgeon, sometimes contemptuous dismissals from Government figures this story will run and run — probably up to the next election. What an achievement it would be to make politicians already discredited seem a viable option, yet that now looks a very real prospect.