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Updated 2.45pm
FINE GAEL AND Fianna Fáil are at odds over the Garda Commissioner as the fallout from the breath test scandal rumbles on.
While Fianna Fáil has withdrawn its support for Nóirín O’Sullivan, the Cabinet is still openly declaring that it has confidence in her ability, although there remains serious questions to be answered over how nearly one million breath tests were recorded by the garda Pulse system that didn’t actually happen.
Speaking at a press briefing this afternoon, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said that questions need to be answered.
“There is a very broad and very deep concern in Cabinet regarding consequences from this and we acknowledge the consequences of these new developments for the faith people will have in the men and women we depend on to implement law in this State.
“We have confidence in the Garda Commissioner but we are strongly of the view that there needs to be a proportionate response back to the very deep and concerning developments.”
Meanwhile, Jim Callaghan of Fianna Fáil has a very different view of the ongoing controversy.
We don’t have confidence in the Garda Commissioner. We don’t believe she has answered the questions that should be answered.
The Fianna Fáil’s justice spokesperson said the public deserve the truth about how one million breath tests that never happened were recorded on the Garda Pulse system.
The party’s frontbench met today to discuss the ongoing crisis, issuing a statement to say it is “not in a position to express confidence in the Garda Commissioner”.
Speaking to reporters at Leinster House, he said no answer has been given as to how 907,000 breath test were falsely recorded.
He said his party’s stance that Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan should “consider her position” still stands. However, he said Fianna Fáil will revisit its position on the Garda Commissioner’s role after her expected appearance at an Oireachtas committee on Thursday.
Cabinet was briefed today on the latest controversies surrounding An Garda Síochana by Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald. It was the first time the latest garda controversies have been discussed formally by ministers. Fitzgerald is expected to provide details of her latest meeting with O’Sullivan later today.
While the Garda Commissioner appears to have Fine Gael support, it is unknown what stance the Independent Alliance will take on the issue.
Yesterday, O’Sullivan held a press conference to detail what the gardaí were going to do about the almost one million breath tests that were recorded but not carried out, as well as the incorrect fixed charge notices which led to almost 150,000 summonses to court wrongly issued to drivers.
For 38 minutes, the commissioner briefed journalists as a demonstration of the “openness and transparency” that the gardaí were showing on the issue. The question of “how did this happen?“, however, remained unanswered.
Over the weekend, the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste Fitzgerald and Minister Leo Varadkar expressed their confidence in O’Sullivan to continue in her role.
With pressure mounting on the commissioner, with Fianna Fáil withdrawing their support for the commissioner and Sinn Féin calling for a Dáil vote of no-confidence in her, there is also growing pressure on the government.
Tánaiste has questions to answer
O’Callaghan said Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald must tell the Dáil about when she was first told about the false recording of breath tests.
“We we are told over weekend the Tánaiste has been aware of wrongful convictions since last year – what has she been doing to remedy this miscarriage of justice? There are 14,700 wrongful convictions out there and no body in the State seems to have taken any steps to resolve it,” he said.
“I also think it is important we don’t let the government off the hook on this issue, the person who is politically responsible and accountable for these issues is the minister for justice.”
It has also emerged that this controversy might not be the last garda scandal, with indications there are other matters “coming down the tracks” in terms of other revelations.
Fianna Fáil said there could be implications for the Tánaiste irrespective of whether the garda commissioner resigns or stays.
“There is an obligation on the government to ensure we are not exposed to any surprises that was part of the agreement … if it is the case the government were aware of these very important issues and we weren’t notified about them in advance, we want explanations to that,” said O’Callaghan.
Fianna Fáil’s frontbench are also set to meet to discuss the matter today, while Commissioner O’Sullivan is believed to have been invited to address the Oireachtas justice committee later this week.
What then?
“What if the answers aren’t satisfactory and where does that take us? Obviously we’ll review our options at that pointy but we are not at that point. Thus far the answers have not been satisfactory,” said Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath.
Additional reporting Christina Finn and Garreth MacNamee
I am struggling to remember a single thing this government have managed properly.
Apart from their numerous pay rises.
@Andrew Martin: working day and night to legitimise the pay rise for working day and night to legitimise the pay rise.
@Andrew Martin: errrr how about Ireland ranked 20th highest in full vaccinations? And a working tracking app, how about us not going the way of the UK. We ate doing a lot of right things. Sorry to ruin your massive failed whinge
@Paul Furey: Your opinion is in the minority now unfortunately
… People want the country opened up.
@Paul Furey: ha, a tracking app that chewed through battery power and didnt work 100%, 20th while vaccinating a relatively small population and what way are the UK going? Fully open soon and more vaccinated than us?…… I get that you’re pro govt in the majority of your posts but in reality they’ve handled this crisis very poorly on many levels. Poor communication, leaks, conflicting info, not protecting the elderly in the first wave, afraid to lock down initially while watching everyone else lock down(26th in europe to do so), not engaging with heavily impacted sectors, nearly a year in level 5 and not managing the economy through the whole thing, rules that dont make any sense, taking ages to enforce masks for a airborne disease, not making use of rapid testing. And theres prob more.
@Paul Hedderman: the UK also had 50 deaths today, the highest number since April. Do you want that here too?
@Paul Furey: The only thing this inept government can agree on is on how to F..k things up.
@Sam Harms: Adjust for population. Thats like 3 – 4 deaths here…. And they had 6 yesterday. Thats why 7 day moving averages are better stats to look at to get a more accurate picture.
@Paul Hedderman: in the past 7 days they have had 213 deaths
@Sam Harms: thanks sam. Thats an average of 30. This time in their second wave when they had slightly higher daily cases they were getting around 600 deaths a day. Big difference….. Thankful the vaccienes are being rolled out
@Sam Harms: Thanks also for proving my point. 50 is way worse than the 7 day average of 30. 66.6% more infact.
@Paul Hedderman: so you don’t think an average of 30 people a day dying from covid is bad? How many people are you willing to sacrifice?
@Sam Harms: in the UK, no, thats very good in regard to fighting the virus. Thats like 2 people a day here…… Around 2 people die a day here during flu season. Never any restrictions for that and most people go on with their daily lives unaware. While any death is sad for the loved ones humans get sick and die all the time. We live beside viruses and illness every day of our lives, unrestricted pre covid. We’ll get to a stage with covid where we’ll live unrestricted, hopefully limiting deaths as much as possible, but there’ll probably still be deaths. People need to realise that.
Typical..right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing….
@Paul Somers: typical….moaner
@Paul Furey: is ‘whinge’ your favourite word, Paul?
@JedBartlett: He seems to have an extremely limited vocabulary:)
@Paul Furey: i never tire of seeing you whinge about other people whinging.
Do they ever talk to each other before telling the public stuff?
@Ballybough Marcus: no they haven’t the intelligence
Misunderstanding something they are brilliant at
@Keith O Hanlon: Yes exactly, this is what the email says:You can use your certificate to facilitate travel across EU member states during the Covid-19 pandemic and on the actual cert it mentions that this is not a travel document
@Keith O Hanlon: Yes exactly, this is what the email says:You can use your certificate to facilitate travel across EU member states during the Covid-19 pandemic and on the actual cert it mentions that this is not a travel document
@d: Well thats actually a contradiction in terms as they are saying you must have it, or a pcr / antigen test, to travel.
So if you do not receive the covid passport by email having been vaccinated in June, and are flying on the 19th of July…..and there is no call centre no to contact ? you seriously could not make this up….
@Linda Oreilly: Well wouldn’t that be a little bit silly, booking for the very day the restricitions are up? In Ireland. Where nothing runs on time.
@Tom Tom: And its that sort of attitude that contributes to these shortcomings. “Ah shur we’ll be grand” instead of saying get your overpaid asses into gear get it done properly.
@Linda Oreilly: Is it not going to be available on the Covid tracker app as well? You’d have that to show?
@Fiona Fitzgerald: yep I got my Covid Vaccine Passport via email late last night. No more PCR tests!!
All i can think of anytime one of these eejits make a statement is a chant you would here at a foitball match ” You don’t know what you’re doing”
@Derek Lyster: just waiting and hoping for a slight slip up by theGovernment and the Shinners and lefties are out of the woodwork…the rest of us agree that a good job is being done in extreme and unprecedented situations.
@john gavin: I’m neither a Shinner nor a Leftie as you so condescendingly put it. I would just like our vastly overpaid representatives to do their jobs properly. Not try to rush through legislation that has in no way been thought properly through so they can go on holidays. I for one don’t agree that they, have or are, doing a good job.
@Franny Ando: But that’s exactly what a Stalint-Trotskist-Marxist-Lefty-Commie would say!
Seriously though, it self expires in 3 months and they can’t do it the right way anyway because it’s constitutionally *very* sketchy and likely wouldn’t pass muster. They are lucky they have Michael D to sign it tbh. I doubt some of our previous presidents would.
So, yeah, it’s rubbish, but at least it will put itself in the bin in October so I don’t see the need to stress it.
@John Considine: But remember they are also saying it can be extended beyond Oct. So let’s hope it is put in the bin:)
Michael Martin looking a bit unwell these days
Ahh the good old “GANFYD” approach: “Get A Note From Your Doctor”.
Doctor’s notes waste huge amounts of time and aren’t as valuable as most folk believe. Waste of your own money and your doctor’s time in many cases.
We need to move away from this business of medicalising everything. Why would you need a doctor’s note to eat out, go on holiday etc? Surely that’s the Dept of Health’s decision.
Tried to ring the number today as my cert has the wrong name on it. Rang once then disconnected. This happened 10 times. Looks like they’re getting paid not to answer the phone.
The Mrs. Received her cert today but is disappointed that it can’t be laminated due to the glare from the paper which prevents the digital machine from reading the QR code.
So what’s the phone number then ?
I got mine through my gp but at a hse vaccination centre. God only knows if or how I’ll get one. I better call the helpline. Oh no wait, its not set up yet.
Got phizer in a country outside the EU. I wonder will they accept my covid vaccination certificate!
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