Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-16
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Ivana Bacik (LAB), Dublin Bay South

After the controversy surrounding the treatment of Garda whistleblower Maurice McCabe a decade ago, a new Garda protected disclosures system was developed to protect whistleblowers and to ensure that where concerns are raised, they are followed up. An "RTÉ Investigates" programme from Rita O'Reilly, which will air tonight, will outline that these systems are not working as intended and, worse, that the people who bravely exposed institutional failures are being penalised and even purged. Just last week, Deputy Alan Kelly and I met the courageous whistleblowers involved and heard their stories directly. Many of their revelations relate to the question of serious failings within Garda firearms practices. In particular, there are serious issues with defective gun holsters. Horrifyingly, the issues with holsters arose in the capital murder of Detective Garda Colm Horkan in June 2020 and the serious injury to another garda just days before that. Other serious failings relate to the storage and processing of guns and ammunition. These alarming matters were ignored by senior Garda management for a long time. Amid these appalling practices, as we know, there were people who blew the whistle, brave individuals who put their careers on the line to expose the truth. They will speak for themselves on RTÉ this evening.
Earlier today, we heard the voices of Dr. Donal Corcoran and Detective Superintendent Brian O'Reilly, two of the whistleblowers, on "Morning Ireland". The detective superintendent said that those who came forward were silenced. Tonight's revelations will highlight the need for the Government, and in particular the justice Minister and the previous justice Minister, to respond to a series of important questions about the integrity of the governance system within our national police force and institutional failings. I know that the Taoiseach has not seen tonight's programme, but the Labour Party has been raising these questions for years and to date, we have had no answers. The current justice Minister had to correct the record, having given Deputy Kelly false information about when precisely his Department became aware of allegations about bad firearms practices in the Garda. Just last year, the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, said that the Department of Justice was not on notice of defective gun holsters until November 2022.
In fact, it was more than two years before that, in August 2020, that the justice Department was first alerted to these concerns, as the Minister then acknowledged in written correspondence with Deputy Kelly. At different times, he gave three different responses to Deputy Kelly, and the difference in dates matters. We will hear more tonight, clearly, about how badly whistleblowers were treated and about the entire reconfiguration of the protected disclosures unit in response to the allegations made. We heard Dr. Corcoran say this morning that the Garda is now in a worse position than it was in the time of Maurice McCabe. Clearly, there are serious outstanding questions for the office of the Garda Commissioner, and both the current and former Commissioners. There are also serious questions for the Taoiseach about ministerial knowledge and Government inaction. Precisely what did this justice Minister and the previous Minister do when alerted to the defective gun holster issue? What did the Taoiseach do when a protected disclosure was made to him on this back in 2022?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-16