Corruption must be uncovered

THE move to put in place a whistle-blowers’ charter for the gardaí is welcome, given the disturbing revelations about some members of the force in recent times.

Officers will have an avenue to report malpractice and prevent conspiracies of silence, an aspect of garda behaviour which in certain cases has rightly been condemned.

The vast majority of gardaí are honourable people. They are doing a difficult job with commendable honesty and undoubted courage.

But as highlighted in the damning findings of the Morris Tribunal, set up following complaints of garda harassment by the McBrearty family, no mechanism exists to prevent the widespread corruption which festered among gardaí in Donegal.

There should be no hiding place for rotten apples in a force that exists to maintain law and order and protect the public against crime and corruption.