Minister Shatter and Commissioner Callinan should both resign in disgrace

Muahahaha

Great news lads, this is what we all have been waiting for for weeks now. It is truly a sad indictment that this head took so long to roll, it should have rolled after he got his penalty points wiped, it should also have rolled after he called whistleblowers "disgusting" and refused to retract that statement on no less than FOUR occasions. He still hasn't retracted it which only goes to show the pigheadedness of this man, even in resignation he can't show any humility, with the Irish Times reporting that he said his resignation is "due to family and personal reasons".

The families of the Monaghan bombing victims will take some solace from this resignation. They know all too well about Callinans strong armed tactics as he bullied them back in the 70's for daring to question how seriously the Gardai were taking the investigations into the murder of their loved ones.

The family of Syvlia Roche Kelly can take at least some solace in this. A child is without it's mother because of the failure of the Gardai to ensure a violent criminal out on bail got locked up for committing a second offense. The family of Maurice McCabe and John Wilson can take solace in this, Wilson was practically forced out of his job and now has cancer due to the stress of it all and McCabe has been subject to an assault by a senior officer and also harassment at work with his Garda colleagues pinning a dead rat to the front door of his house, truly disgusting behaviour.

This is a good day for Justice and for those of us who want to see Ireland someday progress into a fully fledged democracy where transparency and accountability are centre stage. There now needs to be a root and branch reform of the Gardai, the reforms that were promised after the Morris tribunal need to be implemented and GSOC needs to be strengthened so all Garda discipline matters are referred to it. The appointment of senior Gardai should be taken out of the hands of politicians and left to an oversight board.

constance tench wrote: »

Will Shatter now correct the Dail record?

I think he is going to have to do so, no doubt he will claim that he was misinformed by the Commissioner but when he does there should be fireworks from the opposition and the Examiner. This is because Shatter told the Dail that Maurice McCabe would not cooperate with the internal penalty points inquiry led by Assistant Commissioner O'Mahony. Shatter lied through his teeth and it has already been proven because when McCabe got wind that there was an inquiry underway and that it was at the concluding stage he then wrote to Enda Kenny expressing complete shock that he would not be interviewed as part of the inquiry. McCabe went on to say that he thought he would be the first person the inquiry would talk to, given that it was him who blew the whistle. Next Enda wrote back to McCabe washing his hands of the matter saying it wasn't his departments responsibility BUT telling him that he had now forwarded on his letter to the Minister for Justice for whose responsibility it was. So Kenny forwarded McCabes letter to Shatter where the letter explicitly states that McCabe was not invited to give his input to the inquiry. Shatter ignores this information and then goes into the Dail and puts a sleight on the good name of Garda McCabe by telling the Dail that he refused to cooperate with the inquiry, despite Shatter having a letter in his possession from McCabe outlining the complete opposite.

Alan Shatter used Dail privilege to assassinate the character of a good man. He needs to resign too.

Happyman42

Muahahaha wrote: »

Great news lads, this is what we all have been waiting for for weeks now. It is truly a sad indictment that this head took so long to roll, it should have rolled after he got his penalty points wiped, it should also have rolled after he called whistleblowers "disgusting" and refused to retract that statement on no less than FOUR occasions. .

His head hasn't 'rolled', he has walked off into the sunset, with his remarks still on the record and his pension in his pocket.

Shady Tady

ThisRegard wrote: »

I think you're way off in your forecast, this isn't going to bring down a government, it may not even trip a minister.

A tax on children's shoes brought down a previous government, this has the potential to spiral out of control, there's no way shatter will survive the upcoming reports on penalty points and GSOC. If shatter goes he'll bring the government with him.

suicide_circus

Shady Tady wrote: »

He's clearly lost control, there's and election looming and it's in callinans hands at the moment if he wants to drop a bombshell. The fact that the government didn't know of the resignation untill the last minute would indicate he's no longer willing to be their puppet and fall guy. This government is about to crack!

would you say it's time for our viewers to crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside?

Shady Tady

suicide_circus wrote: »

would you say it's time for our viewers to crack each other's heads open and feast on the goo inside?

I'd say you would probaly find there isn't even goo inside!

ThisRegard

Shady Tady wrote: »

A tax on children's shoes brought down a previous government,

Incomparable situations really, a tax on childrens shoes affected a lot more people than this does.

Going Forward

I heard another very high ranking Garda top brass interviewed by Sean O Rourke, giving his reaction.

Not one word of credit for whistle blowers, and very unhappy at the circumstances which led to Callinan resigning.

In his eyes Callian did no wrong and was left with no option but to resign.

Amazing listening.

Banjo String

ThisRegard wrote: »

Incomparable situations really, a tax on childrens shoes affected a lot more people than this does.

The Gardai and Minister for Justice are there for the protection of every citizen in the country from children to senior citizens.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

The biggest loser in all this has to be Joe Garda just trying to do his job. The public perception of the Gardai has been badly tarnished by this and at the end of the day its the beat cops who have to face the public, not the higher ups hiding in their snug offices.

ThisRegard

Banjo String wrote: »

The Gardai and Minister for Justice are there for the protection of every citizen in the country from children to senior citizens.

I'm well aware of that, but it doesn't hit home as much as the VAT on childrens shoes did, or would do if it were to happen again.

tayto lover

Going Forward wrote: »

I heard another very high ranking Garda top brass interviewed by Sean O Rourke, giving his reaction.

Not one word of credit for whistle blowers, and very unhappy at the circumstances which led to Callinan resigning.

In his eyes Callian did no wrong and was left with no option but to resign.

Amazing listening.

And people think things will change :rolleyes:

Going Forward

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

The biggest loser in all this has to be Joe Garda just trying to do his job. The public perception of the Gardai has been badly tarnished by this and at the end of the day its the beat cops who have to face the public, not the higher ups hiding in their snug offices.

As long as Joe Garda closes his eyes to the wrongdoings of other members of the force, then Joe Garda is part of the problem.

The force is full of Joe Gardas.

It has been allowed to evolve into this, and trainee Joe Garda would be well aware of it, if not before, then certainly during their training induction.

If they saw fit to sign up and go along with, I'm sure they can cope with the public's perception.

aloyisious

touts wrote: »

Labour won't pull down the government and force an election. It would be suicide at their current poll ratings. Their only hope is to hold on for two years and hope things turn around.

But a reshuffle might allow Kenny keep Shatter in the post but also re-impose his control over the cabinet.

I believe the things that led to Comm Callinan resigning were his own words and, lately, the fact that his inability to publicly retract his use of the word "disgust" was leading to a split in the Govt, politicizing the issue out of control. I believe he wanted to burst the bubble, at the very least to give his family relief. Re Alan Shatter, there's one way to relieve internal Govt pressure, give the Justice portfolio to another Minister and leave him with Defence for some time until he's "purged" his political sin. If I was into punishing a verbal sin, I'd promote Leo into Justice.

zl1whqvjs75cdy

aloyisious wrote: »

I believe the things that led to Comm Callinan resigning were his own words and, lately, the fact that his inability to publicly retract his use of the word "disgust" was leading to a split in the Govt, politicizing the issue out of control. I believe he wanted to burst the bubble, at the very least to give his family relief. Re Alan Shatter, there's one way to relieve internal Govt pressure, give the Justice portfolio to another Minister and leave him with Defence for some time until he's "purged" his political sin. If I was into punishing a verbal sin, I'd promote Leo into Justice.

I'd say Shatter would probably murder him. It'd be hilarious though.

serfboard

Muahahaha wrote: »

the reforms that were promised after the Morris tribunal need to be implemented and GSOC needs to be strengthened so all Garda discipline matters are referred to it. The appointment of senior Gardai should be taken out of the hands of politicians and left to an oversight board.

Agree with all this. However who appoints the oversight board?

A policing board as they have in the north is what's needed.

I'm glad he's gone too - and not just because of his attitude to the whistleblowers. His attitude to GSOC was equally bad - he just couldn't countenance anyone investigating Gardaí except Gardaí.

gizmo555

ThisRegard wrote: »

Incomparable situations really, a tax on childrens shoes affected a lot more people than this does.

A tax on children's shoes wouldn't kill anyone - central to Sgt McCabe's allegations is that a failure to properly enforce the penalty points scheme and take people off the road who needed to be taken off did:

* A motorist involved in a fatal hit and run had previously been caught speeding at 135kph in a 100kph zone, but the penalty was terminated by a garda inspector.

* A driver who lost control of his car, killing a female passenger, had previously had a 120kph speeding ticket cancelled.

* A man arrested over the death of another motorist in a collision had two months earlier had a case terminated where he was caught driving the wrong way down a one-way street.

* A motorist who died in a crash had six months earlier had a notice for driving without reasonable consideration quashed.

* A motorist involved in a head-on collision in which another driver was killed had three months earlier had a speeding detection of 155kph terminated by a garda superintendent.

* A driver killed in a traffic collision had months previously had a speeding detection terminated for driving at 82kph in a 50kph zone.

Banjo String

I wonder will he shed any further light on who it was bugged gsoc on his way out?

holyhead

Credit to Leo Varadkar for raising his head above the parapet. The Labour Ministers were just pathetic riding on Leo's coat tails in calling for Callianan to retract his "Disgusting" comemnts. If Kenny had any semblance of a moral compass he would sack Alan Shatter. But this being Ireland that's unlikely to happen. If Labour had any backbone they would suggest to Shatter that he step down.

Banjo String

Callinan insists he 'retired' from his job. Not resigned.


The arrogance.

murphaph

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

The biggest loser in all this has to be Joe Garda just trying to do his job. The public perception of the Gardai has been badly tarnished by this and at the end of the day its the beat cops who have to face the public, not the higher ups hiding in their snug offices.

Give it a rest. AGS are I'm afraid to say an average police force at best and in many instances sadly amateur. I've had limited contact with the guards over my lifetime but each time they managed to be a disappointment. Some good characters in there for sure but overall a big "could do (much) better".

K-9

Shady Tady wrote: »

A tax on children's shoes brought down a previous government, this has the potential to spiral out of control, there's no way shatter will survive the upcoming reports on penalty points and GSOC. If shatter goes he'll bring the government with him.

That crossed a line for a Socialist Labour Party. I'm not being facetious but I'm not sure what would cross a line for this current version, I really can't think of one issue of the top of my head. All this seems politics to me and FG will see if Callinan resigning makes this issue go away. Shatter can say he was misinformed by Callinan and I think that will be enough for Labour. That's unless something else comes out with the inquiry or something unpredicted now.

Judgement Day

Just listening to retired Asst.Commissioner Martin Donnellan on Newstalk describing the country as awash with crime...A couple of days ago there was a programme on RTE about diesel laundering in the border counties which - as if we needed it - reminded us that there are parts of the Ireland where law and order is an aspiration rather than a reality. Meantime some four hundred of Ireland's defence forces are abroad on UN duty, and the now ex.Commissioner and Minister Shatter are completely off on a tangent far removed from the reality that is 21st century Ireland.

ThisRegard

gizmo555 wrote: »

A tax on children's shoes wouldn't kill anyone -

All those examples mean little to the average person at home apart from a bit of verbal outrage unless they're directly affected. That's just the way it is.

ThisRegard

Judgement Day wrote: »

Just listening to retired Asst.Commissioner Martin Donnellan on Newstalk

I heard him and was wondering how such a person got themselves into a position of so much authority.

BaronVon

ThisRegard wrote: »

I heard him and was wondering how such a person got themselves into a position of so much authority.

Fianna fail apparently......

Floppybits

Disappointing that he was allow to go, he should have been sacked.

aloyisious

infacteh wrote: »

Fianna fail apparently......

Tut tut, that's three words.....

mikep

Good to see Callinan gone..no chance of Shatter going too though! I think Leo was right to come out and say what he did, hopefully he is not just playing to the masses. It's remarkable how quiet R Bruton has been..I think if he came out along the lines of Varadkar things would then get very interesting...

On a lighter note, has anyone else noticed the similarity between Callinan and Rene from Allo allo?? Can't put up a pic at the mo..

fanged_wang

donkeyoaty0099 wrote: »

The biggest loser in all this has to be Joe Garda just trying to do his job. The public perception of the Gardai has been badly tarnished by this and at the end of the day its the beat cops who have to face the public, not the higher ups hiding in their snug offices.

for far too long , public opinion towards AGS has been unjustifiably inflated

at the end of the day the fact that only two gardai out of the entire force " shouted stop " shows that the bulk of men and women in uniform were pretty content to ignore corruption

ive always been amazed with how incredibly high the public rate our police force , its in the main completely unwarranted

rodento

Is the chairperson of the RSA asking shatter to resign????

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/public-opinion-against-shatter-gay-byrne-1.1737540