The same failed mentality persists

The Garda Commissioner shouldn’t have had the option to resign.

He should have been dismissed because the moment he let the word ‘disgusting’ pass his lips he revealed that his attitude toward transparency and accountability comes from a different era and is unacceptable in a modern police force.

His departure raises the question of the process that will be put in place to choose his successor. Not only must the recruitment process for his successor be completely transparent and open to external candidates, but the remuneration agreement reached with Martin Callinan before he resigned must also be made public.

It is also essential that the two whistleblowers, whose bravery in standing up for ethics and integrity in the face of what we now know was massive pressure from vested interests who preferred the ways of the past, are given adequate recompense for their actions because all Irish citizens owe these brave men a huge debt of honour.

We underestimate at our peril the price anyone in Ireland pays if they dare to question the status quo.

What this whole sorry saga proves yet again is that, despite all the governance failures at every level of Irish society, and the claims of a new politics since 2011, the same failed mentality persists and the insiders who caused those failures are still stuck like leeches to the decision-making process.

They have proven to be incapable of and unwilling to change their ways and have faced no sanctions from their new political masters, who they have taken comfort in finding to be no different from the old master.

Haughey, Reynolds, Bruton, Ahern, Cowen, Kenny — the names may change but the mind-set remains the same.

Desmond FitzGerald

Canary Wharf

London

England