Mayo TD angry over Dáil rejection of public inquiry into garda scandal

A Dáil motion tabled by Aontú seeking a public inquiry into the garda whistleblower scandal and the murder of Garda Colm Horkan has been defeated by eight votes - with government members voting against holding an inquiry.

Aontú TD for Mayo, Paul Lawless, said: “This is an unprecedented situation, where the family of a murdered garda have called for a public inquiry and the Minister for Justice has turned around and said no.

"This has not happened before in the history of the State.

"In my lifetime I’ve never seen a scandal of this scale. My eyes have been very much opened to the level of corruption that’s happening in this country, and it is actually frightening."

Deputy Lawless continued: “We know now that senior garda management were aware of the issues around the safety of the gun holsters supplied to gardaí well in advance of the murder of Colm Horkan in Roscommon in 2020.

"A series of garda whistleblowers are alleging that the Garda Commissioner at the time blocked safety reviews into the holsters, that the Minister for Justice refused to investigate their disclosures and referred the matter back to the gardaí, and that the garda unit responsible for investigating protected disclosures was itself shut down as a means of stopping the investigation.

"One of the whistleblowers who expressed concerns about the holsters, prior to the murder, was actually arrested and is being prosecuted by the State.

“This is a most extraordinary sequence of events. It is actually mind-boggling.

"The entire opposition in the Dáil was united on this issue during the debate and vote last night. The Horkan family deserves answers. The gardaí up and down the country who may have been issued with faulty and dangerous equipment deserve answers.

"What this vote signifies is that the cover-up is continuing. Some of the garda whistleblowers who raised their concerns are now on social welfare such is the level of penalisation they are facing for daring to speak out.

"I am deeply disappointed with the result, but we will continue to use every mechanism at our disposal in Leinster House to push for the right thing to be done," he added.