Aréir, chonaic muid ar an teilifís náisiúnta ceathrar sceithirí de chuid An Garda Síochána. Is daoine iad seo a rinne iarracht imní tromchúiseach a ardú taobh istigh den Garda Síochána. Deir siad gur cuireadh ar leataobh iad, gur cuireadh bac orthu agus gur gearradh pionóis orthu. Tá sé de cheart ag an phobal anois a bheith ar an eolas faoi cé a bhí ar an eolas sa Rialtas faoin dóigh ar caitheadh leis na sceithirí seo agus an gníomh a rinneadh de bharr na himní tromchúisí a chuir siad chun tosaigh.
Last night, four Garda whistleblowers took the extraordinary step of going on national television. They waived their anonymity and told the public their story. These are people who tried to raise serious concerns from inside An Garda Síochána, who have given decades of service and tried to fulfil their duty to challenge wrongdoing. Instead, they say they were sidelined, obstructed and penalised. Anyone watching the programme last night could see they were devastated. It has taken a real toll on all of them and on their lives. Two of them worked in the protected disclosures office itself, the very system established after the Maurice McCabe scandal to protect people who speak out. Last night, they described a system in crisis. We heard about a shotgun that disappeared from Garda custody and 13 years later turning up in the hands of criminals. We heard much more. We heard about the confidential protected disclosure file concerning that weapon that was marked for closure without the knowledge or consent of the person responsible for managing the case. This morning, on Newstalk, deputy commissioner Paul Cleary acknowledged that former Commissioner Drew Harris had intervened in the protected disclosure process. What whistleblowers were telling the public last night as interference has now directly been acknowledged, in respect of the Commissioner's involvement, by one of the most senior officers in An Garda Síochána. That is a shocking development.
One issue brings the human consequences of all of this into particular stark focus, the Garda holsters which were dangerously defective. Just six days before Detective Garda Colm Horkan was murdered, another garda suffered life-changing injuries when his firearm discharged while it was in one of these holsters. Detective Garda Colm Horkan was murdered after his own firearm was taken from his holster and used to kill him. It has been suggested that this was only possible because the holster was defective. The holsters were supplied not by a specialist firearms manufacturer but by a maker of saddles for horses. When the protected disclosure office sought the assistance of retired lieutenant colonel Ray Lane, an experienced weapons expert, Garda management intervened and blocked it. Lane was not appointed and the authority of Rose Sweeney, who had discretion to make that decision, was badly undermined.
Many of these matters are not secret. They have been raised internally, discussed in this House and reported prominently in national newspapers over the years. The Department when the Minister was Minister for justice knew about this. It was informed in August 2020 about the issues regarding these holsters. A protected disclosure was made directly to her that month shortly after she became Minister for justice. I want to ask her directly because she avoided answering some of these questions in the years that have gone past. When was she first made aware of an issue with the holsters as Minister for justice? Was she briefed about the safety concerns surrounding them? What did she do about the treatment of the whistleblowers raising these concerns? When all of this came across her desk as Minister for justice, what did she do about it? Does she now accept given the statement of the deputy commissioner on Newstalk this morning that the former Garda Commissioner in fact interfered in an independent process surrounding the protected disclosure? What does she say about that?
