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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRLvjR_Aric
JUSTICE MINISTER ALAN Shatter has made a long-awaited apology to former garda John Wilson and Sergeant Maurice McCabe.
“It was never my intention to cause any upset,” he said of remarks made in the Dáil that the whistleblowers did not cooperate with garda investigations that took place in respect of their allegations.
“I acknowledge that this statement was incorrect. It was never my intention to mislead the House and I believe it is appropriate that I apologise to both and withdraw the statements made.”
He also corrected the Dáil record and apologised for any other remarks made by him – outside the Dáil – that had caused upset.
Shatter went on to discuss Garda Inspectorate Report on the Fixed Charge Processing System.
He said he wanted to stress that “in dealing with what has become known as the penalty points controversy”, his “only interest, at all times, has been the public interest”.
That required that allegations made by whistleblowers be properly addressed and that any problems with the penalty points system be tackled so that public confidence in it could be maintained.
During his opening address to the Dáil, Shatter also acknowledged the “important role of the whistleblowers in highlighting problems and helping to bring about real change”.
“I hope that they can take some satisfaction from the considerable changes which have been and are being brought about. Following receipt of the allegations made, what was important is that I made sure that their claims were properly addressed and this I have done.”
In concluding his speech, the Minister moved to shut down the controversy as quickly as possible. He said:
I hope the House can agree that it would be in the public interest to do what we can to move on from the present controversy in relation to penalty points and get on with the work which is under way which will achieve a fair, transparent and effective system.
Here is Shatter’s the apology, in full:
I want to begin by addressing a matter of substantial importance. On 1 October 2013 in a topical issue debate on the penalty points issue I made a statement that the whistleblowers did not cooperate with the garda investigations that took place in respect of their allegations.I appreciate that this statement has been the source of some upset and distress to the whistleblowers. I have looked again at the information provided to me and considered the matter in detail.I previously stated on the Dáil record that I expected that Sgt McCabe would be interviewed during the course of the O’Mahoney investigation and I note that he fully engaged with the Garda Inspectorate in the work undertaken by them to prepare the report which is the subject matter of today’s debate.
I want to say very clearly that, having re-examined the facts and further considered the matter, I believe more should have been done during the course of the O’Mahoney investigation to obtain information from and ascertain the views and experiences of the whistleblowers.
Further and better efforts could and should have been made to secure productive engagement with them in the investigation of their claims.
I therefore wish to correct the record of this House that the whistleblowers “did not cooperate with the garda investigations that took place”.
I acknowledge that this statement was incorrect. It was never my intention to mislead the House and I believe it is appropriate that I apologise to both and withdraw the statements made.
It was never my intention to cause any upset and if any upset was caused I hope that my correcting the record of the Dail today will put this matter to rest.
In doing so, I again acknowledge, as I have done many times previously that the reports published and the findings and recommendations that have been made with regard to the fixed notice charge system and penalty points are in response to the allegations made by Sgt McCabe and supported by former Garda Wilson.
I am aware that the whistleblowers and others have issues with some remarks I made outside this House.
It was not my intention to misrepresent any matter connected with this issue. I apologise for any offence that may have been caused by any other remarks made by me.
There are issues of importance that I have to properly address as Minister for Justice and there are important matters outstanding which I hope will be finally resolved upon GSOC completing its investigation and publishing its report.
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Alot he fking knows…theyre on another planet the lot of them..whats the alternative to oil, gas or coal without extortionate expenses to fit solar or the next energy source..they’ve jumped the gun with this one and offered no incentive to switch to cleaner energy sources…and yes I know there are grants in place but its not enough…if they want to make an impression, then don’t take money off people to justify it saving the planet.. Build a proper program outlining the options for people, a cost effective solution instead of take take take.
@Craig Clancy: People simply cannot afford grants, costs to much to upgrade systems. Initial outlaw is to much,
@Craig Clancy: Grants are part of the give. Green energy such as wind is subsidised. What’s your great plan to reduce pollution without hitting people’s pockets?
@Dave Barrett: I would love to go solar or any other viable resource but as you pointed out it’s too expensive even with the grant..how much was it for all those water meters that are due to need upgrading soon? Surely they could of put that money towards a nationwide energy campaign..biggest tax take last year and still the roads are in $hite, homelessness is rampant still, hospitals over run and understaffed but yet they still suck us dry of every extra cent we try use to survive…its going to hit a boiling point soon and some one will take matters in to their own hands.
@Mickety Dee: how about stop taking more and more money off people and give them a chance to actually switch over or upgrade..they ran this way too quick and gave no viable plan for anyone, absolutely no incentive to switch over..literally said here are your options off you go now hurry before we start taking just that little squeeze more off you…how is it our fault that they’re are not other things in place…start by fixing the appalling public transport, focus more on helping people change over to solar rather than punish them for not having it, work with the people..thats the problem they are so detached from reality its frightening.
@Craig Clancy: Irish people lack back bone. Yellow vests needed.
@Craig Clancy: need to take vat off renewables!
@Aidan Conway: alot more than take the vat off.
@Dave Barrett: well anyone who protests is called an extremist or anti vaxer or a crazy person by the media, or protesting is made illegal like the truckers one in Canada. Not much the normal person can do anymore to oppose anything.
The main reason for cost of living rises is we dont have a regulator to question why everything is on the rise
Oh wait a minute we do have a regulator .
He must have fallen asleep like Eamonn and everything went up when his eyes were closed.
@Stephen Carslake: That’s not the reason for increases. Read the media of any country in the world and you’ll see that.
The Irish energy regulator does not influence prices in the US, UK, Germany, Spain, Turkey, France, Italy etc etc
Our energy regulator may make dubious calls but they are not the sole reason for the price increases.
@Lee King Buckett: they’re allowing energy companies raise standing charges, which are nothing to do with global energy supplies. The bill increases can be excused for global rises, but there’s no reason for raising standing charges other than opportunistic greed which is where the regulator should step in .. but doesn’t!
@Rob Gale: Agreed but as per the original comment that’s not ‘the main reason’ for price increases.
The main reason is a global energy crisis, the standing charge increase is gouging but not major.
@Lee King Buckett: I’m not sure about the gas suppliers, but:
ESB Networks are managing/maintaining the whole electricity infrastructure and (most/a lot of) the production.
I would guess, that’s covered with the standing charges, or at least the major chunk of it? IF they increased the charges to Energia, Airtricity, or whoever, they will only pass the charges on to the customer, I guess?
You have to laugh that the Green Party under Eamonn Ryan seemingly sacrificed all of their principles in government on areas like greyhound racing, hare coursing, neutrality, direct provision etc in exchange for this carbon tax that would ultimately become redundant through global events and fudged away from making a difference.
Brilliant stuff Green TDs, you’ve achieved nothing in government other than providing the necessary numbers for FF & FG to implement their policies. Bravo.
This is literally bizzare, as in really really bizzare, one of the main exporters of oil/gas IE Russia is all but closing its supply to Europe, causing massive price increases across the board. I am no expert here at all, but Eamonn do you think I would be paying over the odds if I had an alterative way to get said energy? There is no alteratives even remotely ready to take over. Even if I installed a 10kW solar system with battery, it still needs subbing from the grid, which is again, gas powered for the most part. Also, in saying that, I am just talking about household energy useage. I have no idea about farms, but what I do know is all that farm machinary is fuel based, what alternatives have been given to farmers, that’s just one industry. Also, yet again, moving everything to electric based is putting massive pressure on the national grid, which again is still massively gas based on the back end and is nearly keeling over with 15/20 odd data centres in the mix and Eamonn and co think this same grid is ready to handle the entire country going fully electric. Seriously, what plannet is this lad on.
@Dave.: Also, I just want to add. Seriously, when are the Irish people actually going to get up and march on the Dail, this is not right. How can it be, as one poster pointed out, fuel prices have increased so much that its has actually bettered any increase the Carbon Tax would yeild, yet goverment still continue to push for more increases. Are we really as a nation going to sit down and take this no problem?
@Dave.: Russia has not reduced gas or oil supplies to Europe at all. Ireland gets its gas from Scotland.
The war in Ukraine has resulted in speculative increases in oil but gas has reduced in price in the last 5 weeks. The causes of energy price spikes predate the war in Ukraine.
Other than that, you’re correct about the lack of alternatives and the fact that a carbon tax won’t reduce usage at all.
They will put the Tax on To Keep Ryan on Board and then give it Back some other Way What Load of Bollicks
The whole point of a carbon tax is to disincentivise (or in our case more likely to avoid EU fines). For gas and oil, the price has already risen high enough to disincentivise. Adding any more money is just making poor people poorer.
Also, how can Irish people be disincentivised to use a car when we have the worst public transport infrastructure in Western Europe? We have very few safe bike lanes (and those that we have abruptly end for no reason). Even in Dublin.
Its just a load of virtue signalling and kicking the can down the road. Like the paper straws, none of this is going to make any sort of meaningful difference. What we need is major investments in renewables, investment in our public transport and cycling infrastructure, and much more. Not a bunch of new taxes.
@Tomo: Avoid EU fines ??? This State pay the EU fines every year because they are charging the Irish motorists VRT which is outlawed by the EU .. so they know exactly what they are doing.. Instead of taxing the public Carbon Tax, they should be heavily investing in the ESB to help them build multiple wind farms…and not giving out subsidies to private companies
Where are all the FF/FG/GP middle leg huggers today? Very quiet…surely it’s hitting home to them on the failure of their parties?
Az if things were not expensive enough, soon enough a car owner wont be able to afforx to fuel a car pay for home heating.surely the government can off put this raise.
The easiest way to offset the burden of the tax is not to introduce it due to the current circumstances. But they will go on and on with all kinds of waffle just to keep the Greens on board. Personally I have lost all faith in FF and FG.
I wonder what the US multinationals are paying for electricity for all the data centers that are gobbling up loads of out electricity. I’d bet they pay seriously less that the average person. All new data centers and other non essential type IT should be paused until this is under control. Our citizens can’t afford food or electricity but we have many times redundancy in our data storage incase of a few mins outage on watching netflix. Great priorities we have in the 21st century.
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