Labour TD Duncan Smith said that Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and former Minister for Justice Helen McEntee must face the Dáil in the wake of the RTÉ documentary about Garda whistleblowers.
Smith, who serves as party whip, said that the government should have scheduled a Dáil debate and make Minister O’Callaghan and Minsiter McEntee (who is now Minister for Defence) answer for their roles in the misgovernance of Garda issues.
This week, an RTÉ documentary revealed that Garda whistleblowers did not feel adequately protected to report on issues within the Gardaí’s structure, despite reforms being implemented to protect whistleblowers in the wake of the Maurice McCabe scandal.
Smith said that he sought the debate at the Business Committee yesterday and received support from other opposition parties, but the government shot the request down.
With the scandal having shades of the Maurice McCabe affair, which nearly triggered the collapse of the government in late 2017 and resulted in the resignation of then-Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald, Smith was pressing Ministers O’Callaghan and McEntee to face the Dáil.
The Dublin Fingal East TD said “the government’s refusal to provide time for this debate is completely unacceptable. The revelations concerning Garda whistle-blowers has caused deep concern across Ireland.”
Smith said “Labour called for a dedicated debate with both the current Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, and his predecessor, Helen McEntee. Sinn Féin and other opposition parties supported that reasonable request. Despite that clear demand, the government has left the debate off the Dáil schedule.
“The government cannot treat this as a passing controversy and hope that public concern will fade,” he said, and said that “both Ministers must come before the Dáil.”
He said the Ministers need to “address the questions raised and provide a clear account of how these matters were handled. Labour is calling for an urgent, dedicated debate with Ministers O’Callaghan and McEntee at the earliest opportunity. The public, the Dáil and the Garda whistle-blowers at the centre of this scandal deserve clear answers.”