Seanad report: Referring to the transfer of five gardaí from Donegal to Dublin following criticism by the Morris tribunal, leader of the House Mary O'Rourke said there was public disquiet about the matter.
"We are told they won't be relating to the public. That's actually condemnation in itself; that they won't be relating to the public. I think there is distinct unhappiness at the fact that they are being transferred with whatever baggage here."
Mrs O'Rourke told the House the intention was that the Garda Síochána Bill would be returned to the Seanad in the last week of the present session to deal with whatever amendments were made in the Dáil.
Earlier, Brian Hayes, Fine Gael leader in the House, suggested that, in view of the public concern surrounding many of the issues raised in the tribunal report, the Bill should be "parked" for six months to see how it could be improved in terms of dealing with complaints against members of the force.
He said there were significant public concerns at the decision of the Garda Commissioner to transfer five gardaí who had been cited in the Morris report. "I think this is an outrageous decision; that these men who were cited in the report would be simply shunted from one part of the country to another."
Mr Hayes welcomed the tabling of a Labour motion, which, he said, would afford the House an opportunity to debate the Morris report this evening.
The motion calls for the initiating of steps to provide for an independent policing authority, an independent one-person Garda ombudsman, and the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the Morris tribunal reports.
Joe O'Toole (Ind) said he thought that if the Garda Commissioner had taken no action and the gardaí in question were suspended and drawing their salaries people would also be critical.
Kathleen O'Meara (Labour) said the public was very concerned about the response of the Government and the Garda Commissioner to the tribunal findings. Oireachtas members had a very important role to play in ensuring that public confidence was fully restored in the Garda.
Paul Coghlan (FG) said that Senator Maurice Hayes, who had been charged with the responsibility for overseeing the implementation of Garda reforms, had rightly pointed out some very important things. He believed that most of them would agree with Dr Hayes's proposal that there should be a single ombudsman rather than a three-person commission.
Maurice Hayes (Ind) said he wished to make it clear that he had agreed to help the Minister implement whatever the Oireachtas passed. "He very decently said that I could preserve my own independence up to that, and I was quite free to do so."
He would caution against putting the Bill in ice too much. The ombudsman proposal was just one part. The Morris report made it clear Garda management needed to be modernised.