115. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Justice if he has any concerns about the fact that the latest intake of trainee gardaí are not fully vetted. [12760/25]
TDs / Alan Kelly
Alan Kelly
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As the Minister is aware, the Garda Commissioner informed his Department last November that full vetting would no longer take place prior to trainees entering the college at Templemore. This sent shock waves across many organisations, including the GRA and other representative bodies, because the Garda do the vetting. If gardaí will not be fully vetted before they enter Templemore, how can standards be maintained?
This is Comical Ali stuff. The Garda Síochána press office has stated: "... the highest standards for all ... Gardaí will be maintained. Vetting standards for Garda trainees remain the same." They do not remain the same. They are different. Similar to the housing statistics, this was done as a political ploy in order to ensure numbers got bumped up and trainees were taken in last December, which I pointed out last ye…
What the Minister said is simply not factually correct. Garda trainees are going into Templemore who have not been vetted to the standard required. That is the bottom line. This was done last November.
The Minister is also failing to acknowledge the fact that unattested trainees are often training under supervision but are not fully vetted. The Minister knows that as part of their course they are out during certain …
Not when they enter.
They can be on the streets unvetted.
So, standards drop.
Standards drop.
They do.
Give a guarantee.
Trainee-----
They are on the streets unvetted.
I thank my colleague, Deputy Wall, who has been advocating this for some time, as did his dad before him as well, and I acknowledge the work of Family Carers Ireland.
This is a unique and neat motion. This is a group that cannot stand up for themselves. I was a bit disappointed in the Minister of State's response and in the Minister's response because we have discussed carers in here quite a bit. We have never reall…
Yesterday, again, on "Prime Time", journalist Joe Galvin raised the issue of the Israeli company Cellebrite used by the PSNI to crack the phones of journalists Barry McCaffrey and Trevor Birney. There has been an overlap in personnel between the PSNI from that time and An Garda Síochána since then. It has also been reported that Meta, which owns WhatsApp, announced that up to 100 journalists' phones were compromised …
Absolutely. Agreed.
Agreed.
Agreed.
Really?
What about the Garda?
A year ago, a commitment was given by the former Minister, Stephen Donnelly, when he wrote to me to say that the new nursing home in Nenagh would be opened as a nursing home after completion of the 12-month contract signed with a private operator to take over the nursing home in order for it to be used as a step-down facility for UHL. I fought for this nursing home. The Minister of State knows it is badly needed in t…
I accept the Minister of State's honesty and directness in this and I appreciate his response. I have to ask, though, why did the HSE send me this response to a parliamentary question within the past few days saying it did not have a date and did not know? If the Minister of State can confirm to the House that it is happening after 12 months, which is this summer, what is going on? Why are parliamentary questions not…
I take his word that will happen. I must point out to the Minister of State that the company, Bartra, is advertising 12-month contracts for clinical nurses in Nenagh. If it is advertising for clinical nurses in Nenagh for 12 months, it must expect it is going to stay there a bit longer. By the way, at the end of this I want to see the total amount Bartra was paid for doing this because I expect it will be colossal. W…
I will indeed, that is no problem.
There was astonishment among serving and retired Garda members at the Taoiseach's comments on Garda vetting last week in response to a question I had asked. To put back on record what the Taoiseach said, he asked what vetting actually means and what it actually produces. He stated, "It is quite limited in what it actually does." I have been contacted by a number of serving Garda members who have been back in Templemo…
We have a lot to get through. The CSO statistics were worrying when it came to the increase in burglaries and many other crimes. Notwithstanding this, I believe the Irish public respect An Garda Síochána and have huge support for it. However, it is a force that is in crisis. I represent Templemore. There are huge issues across the board, primarily recruitment and retention, an area which is in total crisis. Unless th…