Garda Commisioner Martin Callinanissioner Martin Callinan

[Former Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan and Justice Minister Alan Shatter last year]

“I wish to pay tribute to the Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan, on his retirement from An Garda Síochána. As Commissioner and throughout his very distinguished service in the Force he has made an enormous contribution to fighting crime and I believe that this contribution will be seen as a legacy of which he can be very proud and for which the community he served are in his debt.
The high reputation of An Garda Síochána has been gained down through the years through people’s experience of dealing with members like Martin Callinan, often at times of great difficulty. I believe, at these challenging times for the Force, the men and women who serve in it will continue to enjoy the respect of the community they serve, often at great risk to themselves. I extend to him my sincere thanks for his dedication and service to the State throughout his long and distinguished career.”

Justice Minister Alan Shatter today.

Earlier: All By Myself

The Commish Hits The Fan

(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

[Minister Brendan Howlin on his way into a cabinet meeting at government buiildings this morning]

Brendan Howlin has joined calls for ~~Martin Callinan to be spared any further scrutiny~~ for the Pubic Accounts Committee to stop its current line of investigation into the penalty points controversy.

Brendan Howlin: “I sought last year or the year before that in fact, for the people to give further powers to the Oireachtas so that we could have inquiries, so that people could be called and give evidence and so those committees could come to conclusions, now the people didn’t accept my recommendations in that and I think part of the fears that arose during that debate was that people would politicise the process and I think that we have to prove to the people we can conduct inquiries as an Oireachtas in a fair and impartial way, that we don’t parse and analyse or give our personal opinions on evidence on a daily basis…”

Unidentified reporter: “Does that give you any concern about a banking inquiry dealing with these members and showing a capacity to maybe overstep the mark on occasion?”

Howlin: “Well we’ve set out in clear legislation now that there… what must be in place before we can have a full inquiry of the type that now will be embarked upon to see what happened leading up to our economic collapse and I think there’ll have to be a very clear understanding that that’s a process not an event that people can march out daily and give their opinions on, it has to be a thorough, impartial, fair analysis of fact and everybody has to be given fair weight and due time to present their case before conclusions are arrived at or opinions are voiced by individual members.”

Howlin ‘concerned’ over conduct of PAC (RTE)

Earlier: Lock Step