I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this legislation, which I might term the "Garda Síochána (police corruption) Bill 2003". I welcome the contributions from all sides of the House. However, I will take a different position and be a dissenting voice on the issue.
The Bill has come at a critical time in our history. We are now at the stage where the island of Ireland needs a police force that we can trust and respect. That police force must be community-based, enjoying the respect and support of all our people. The police must earn confidence and respect, for the days of demanding respect are gone forever. They must earn it before we can go forward. There can be no room for corruption or cover-ups in any police force, North or South. That is the reality. As someone who has worked in the inner city for 20 years, I have seen examples of both good and disastrous policing. I have seen how gardaí involved in the drugs squad earned the respect of the community in the poorer sections of society, for they went in to work and liaise with people and were straight with them. They were not playing games. Recent history has shown us, however, that there is a long way to go before we have a quality police service.
Now there is a glorious opportunity. We must start looking at new ideas and I welcome some of those which Ministers have thrown on the table for debate over the last few weeks. We need a quality police force. Some of the Patten proposals have given us a blueprint, and we should look seriously at the positive aspects of Patten and adopt them immediately. The future is important, as the whole community is crying out for a quality police service. As legislators, we have a major role to play. We must listen to the people's views and put them into law in this House. Any law steeped in the community will always have the respect of all its citizens and that is what this debate is about today.
However, we cannot allow ourselves to make the same mistakes as in the past, as has been proved in recent days. We should never allow ourselves to be pushed into supporting legislation under pressure or at the wrong time. The reality is that many people have major concerns about the PSNI and its record of human rights abuses. There is a serious gap in confidence, particularly in the Northern minority and human rights groups in the North. They are at the coalface each day and know the reality, and we have a duty to listen to them. Sadly, the majority of Members of this House do not listen enough to people on the ground in the North, and that is one of the aspects in which we are going wrong in this debate. I disagree with many of the views put forward by the three major political parties, particularly regarding support for the Northern minority. It is simply not acceptable for police forces to be involved in shoot to kill policies, collusion and death squads, and then have the brass neck to expect confidence and support from the people. That is not on.
When we start to criticise bad policing tactics or bad policing in general, the labelling brigade, of which there are many members in the House, refer to us as being anti-police, which is a load of rubbish. It does not mean that we do not support good, decent and honest policing. I am particularly aware of this and I always make a point of praising good practice, whether in the North or the South, with regard to community policing.
I have spoken with many from the North and been informed that, despite the Good Friday Agreement, there are still major problems there and that they are still concerned about the absence of quality and impartiality in their policing. The Minister, Deputy McDowell, and his party should speak to these people more often and listen to their views. If they had a police service that would act as an independent and honest broker, it would receive community support. This should be our objective. The reality is that there are genuine fears that people who were involved in collusion and in people's deaths are still on the force. They are still in the special branch and their credibility is on the line. This is a view one will not hear in Dublin 4. One may also not here it in the vicinity of the Houses too often. I have spoken with the people concerned and that is their honest and clear position.
Police co-operation has got to be based on trust and confidence. At present, and particularly in recent days, my trust and confidence in the PSNI has been seriously undermined. When I listened to the evidence that a policeman was involved in some way with Michael Stone on the day of the massacre in Milltown cemetery and when people such as Rosemary Nelson, who stood up for human rights in the Six Counties, were murdered, is it not right for people like me to ask serious questions about credibility?
I have heard people speak about the Dublin-Monaghan bombings. I worked in Dorset Street for 20 years and the father of one of my pupils was blown to bits on that day and one of the two O'Neills, who were past pupils, was seriously injured. When individuals say that there is a good chance that state security forces were in some way involved in that campaign, we have got to look seriously at these issues and people have got to speak out. We have to look at the issues of trust, credibility and respect. When one asks these questions one is doing a service to the community and also to the policemen and women on this island who are good and decent and who go out and do their day's work and are constantly undermined by such elements.
As soon as a political conflict is brought into policing, impartiality goes out the window. This can be seen in the Middle East. Will a Palestinian get a fair trial is Israel? Will an Israeli be treated to a fair trial by the Palestinians? These are the issues that arise if there is interference. We have to decide that political conflicts can damage impartial policing. I am not saying that we have to constantly live and move in the past. I shall return to that issue later.
Yesterday, there was another classic example of bad policing. I met the family of the jockey, Christy McGrath, who visited the Dáil and met many of us. Christy McGrath is a 24 year old jump jockey from Carrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary, who has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a person in July 2000. Christy has repeatedly denied that he was responsible for this man's death and is seeking an immediate appeal against this unjust conviction. Having listened to the family and to a delegation from England, I am absolutely convinced that there has been another grave miscarriage of justice. On leaving the pub on the night in question, Christy McGrath was attacked, racially abused and assaulted by a particular person. In attempting to gain entrance to the pub, Christy was again attacked by the person with a brick and he was forced to defend himself. This person was alive when Christy left the scene. Later, however, two other men wearing balaclavas are known to have approached the person who attacked Christy. One returned to the scene more than once and the body was found the following morning on the ground. The person who died was the victim of strangulation. He was strangled with such force that the neck vertebrae were broken. This gentleman was over six foot and heavily built. Christy is a small jockey, a slightly built shorter man.
Throughout the course of the investigations police referred to him as the "Irish lad". He had no motive to kill this person. Christy tried to avoid the fight by running back to the pub. Witnesses in Christy's favour were never heard. One admitted washing blood-stained clothes and another reported seeing a murder by men in balaclavas. Police claim they are unable to state the time of the person's death. Christy only learned that the victim had died of strangulation after he pleaded guilty in court. That is an example of very bad policing. It involves an Irish citizen in England and is similar to the cases of the Birmingham Six or the Guilford Four.
Christy McGrath's family and their supporters have asked me to support their call for the immediate referral of his case to the court of appeal. An investigation into the killing should be reopened as a matter of urgency. Things have not changed much. We have got to look seriously at this entire question.
When I travelled to South America to act as an observer at the trial of the Colombia three, I spoke with trade unionists whose colleagues and friends were killed by right-wing death squads linked to the military. I raised this question with the Colombian Minister for Justice. A few days later, at a meeting with human rights groups, I discovered that the state security person responsible for these massacres was promoted and was moved abroad to work in an embassy. That smacks of Brigadier Kerr and the FRU.
We have seen similar situations in the North. The Pat Finucane case is one that immediately comes to mind. He was one of the best human rights lawyers in the world. Many looked upon him as a Steve Biko of the North. Many other innocent civilians suffered the same fate at the hands of security forces. People should not have the brass neck to come in here and demand support for the Bill when there is a major policing crisis at present.
We cannot allow ourselves to be bullied into passing legislation because a particular Government wants to apply pressure at a time when there are major doubts and concerns about human rights issues. There is also the question of protecting the democratic process. If some in the PSNI, particularly those who were directly involved, are allowed to continue to operate and if the British Government continues to demand support while it postpones democratic elections or supports collusion, one loses one's self-respect and dignity and the respect of the people. In the end, we will all lose. It is time for deep reflection. We need cool heads, clear thinking and the ability not to be rushed into passing this legislation.
I strongly support the idea of a truth and reconciliation forum to deal with the various issues – such as people's suffering and the question of policing – to which the conflict has given rise. Then we can all hopefully move on and have a bright future for policing in this island.
I also wish to refer to the horrific drugs crisis in this country. We have recently seen vicious attacks on our streets, particularly those of the capital city. Most people in the know will say that there is a direct connection between alcohol abuse and young people taking cocaine, which is leading to excessive violence and massive anti-social behaviour on the streets. This matter will have to be given careful consideration. A part of this plan has got to be a quality policy service. People in the communities must admire and respect their policemen. This must apply to everybody. I say the same about every other public servant – teachers, doctors, city council workers. If one is a public servant, one is working for the public and is paid out of taxpayers' money.
I referred earlier to the need for confidence building measures. The Stevens report was amazing in that it led to the question of collusion entering the public domain. One arm of the State has indicated that this is a major problem and that a crisis exists, while Members in this House expect the rest of us to row in and support the legislation. We have got to ask some difficult questions. I mentioned the trial of the Colombia three. It seems that if any Member gets involved in human rights issues, they are suddenly labelled. There was a hysterical reaction in the Dáil and in the media when I travelled to Colombia as an independent observer. They tried to bully me off the pitch. They even succeeded in bullying other Deputies from different parties. Sadly, some of those who issued the hysterical reaction were from the Minister's party. We went out there as observers to see that the three Irish citizens got a fair trial. When they are acquitted, people will see that we made the right call. I have spoken with American legal people in recent weeks and they are convinced there is no evidence against these three people.
While there, I had the honour of meeting trade unionists. They are being shot down in a way that reminds me of the sectarian killings in the North over the past nine or ten years. Shop stewards in Coca-Cola plants are being killed by death squads that are linked to the military, yet the people in Colombia are asked to have respect for policing. I heard from the families and lawyers involved in some of these cases and this reminded me of some of what went on in the North over the past 30 years. The vast majority of people in Colombia want a peace process like ours. They also want an independent peace-broker to help them out of the rut they are in. When we returned we made many submissions; I gave a report to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Taoiseach.
The threat to the equality agenda must also be raised when talking about the policing issue. I am referring particularly to the question of race. We must have a police service that respects all nationalities and ethnic minorities and treats everyone in the same way. There have been cases where this did not happen. There are people who are trying to encourage racism in this society and they should be dealt with head-on. All political parties should be constantly vigilant of the elements in our society that want to stir up the race issue. We have seen the rise of the British National Party in the local elections in England which is a cause of concern to many people.
I listened to Deputy Conor Lenihan speak earlier about living in the past. I do not live in the past – I have a vision for, and believe in, the future. We cannot move into the future without dealing with the past. Issues cannot be brushed aside and forgotten. The issues must be dealt with, a line can be drawn in the sand and then we can move on. This is the way to deal with a peace process. This is why I support the idea of a truth and reconciliation forum. We must let people release their hurt and anger. If there was collusion and massacres, we must face up to it and then move on.
The Northern minority has shown tremendous courage over the past 30 years. I have many friends who moved from the North to Dublin because of the Troubles. They constantly say how excluded they felt here for many years as no one was prepared to listen to their views. The peace process has given us an opportunity to have debates like this where Members can speak openly and not look over their shoulder or be labelled by elements in this House.
When listening to Deputies from both sides of the House, I often wonder if they have ever sat down and spoke to residents of the Short Strand in Belfast. I have met them on numerous occasions and they have told me about the circumstances in which they live and shown me video evidence of the sectarian attacks on their houses at night time. I have great respect for their integrity and patience. A group came to Coolock one evening and gave a talk. There were no representatives in attendance from the major political parties and I was saddened for their sake by this. I encourage Members to listen to the views of such people. When one listens to them, one realises that major problems exist. When one realises this, one can do something about them.
I do not want to see a simple name change for a police force. I do not believe in PR gimmicks or spin – I believe in real change and radical reform. I agree with comments made by some Deputies that when talking about policing, there must be real change, equality and justice. We must also ensure the nightmarish reality of the Northern minority experience is listened to.
Policing must be linked to the democratic process. Circumstances cannot exist where a British Prime Minister postpones elections on this island. I do not accept this; it is undemocratic and damaging to the peace process. We must remember that when we talk about the peace process, it is a process for change in our society. Incidentally, I supported the peace process long before it was trendy and fashionable to do so and before there was a cessation of violence from any group. I worked on these issues for years through community groups. I visited the North many times and talked to Nationalists and Unionists and became involved in different groups. All the time, the key message was that something had to be done about policing. Policing must be part of the peace process and must be built on respect for human rights. If that respect does not exist, the process will go nowhere and fall.
Deputies do not often get the chance to air their views in a manner as widespread as this. I recently asked the Taoiseach a question about representing the views of our citizens. While the views of citizens can be strongly represented, one can still negotiate. One does not have to cave in at the first instance – one can be strong and negotiate.
Policing on this island must be built on trust and respect. I have major doubts about the timing of this legislation. The timing of the Bill is not appropriate because of the evidence that has come to light in recent days.
