Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-15
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

Deputy Conway Walsh raised the issue of a former garda, Margaret Loftus, and members of An Garda Síochána. Again, there has to be clear rules in terms of our uniformed services, particularly our Garda and our military. There are rules in respect of people who are convicted of crimes. They should not serve. When people are charged, they are sometimes suspended pending the outcome of the investigation and so forth. I salute the courage of Margaret Loftus.
On the mandatory reporting of barring orders, I would like a report back on that. I think the Minister is working on something in that regard.
To be fair to him, Deputy Gannon condemned blockading. With regard to the decision that was made, we had to remove those vehicles from Whitegate. We simply had to. I got a phone call to say that the refinery was closing. That would have been ruinous for the country because one cannot restart a refinery straight away. How bad would that have been. The Minister for justice made the correct decision in asking the Army in because it has the equipment to remove big lorries, tractors and other machines. It would have been crazy if we ended up stopping the export oil from Whitegate.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-15