The decision by the Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald to ignore the clamour from certain quarters in the media and political world advocating the arbitrary dismissal of Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan must be welcomed by people who espouse the values of fairness and due process.
The minister has demonstrated impartiality and rationality in appointing retired High Court Judge Iarfhlaith O'Neill to carry out a review of the recent allegations of a smear campaign bid against a serving officer with the approval of senior Garda management.
The accusations are contained in a protected disclosure provided to Ms Fitzgerald by the whistleblowers.
The inquiry will take a mere six weeks and will, no doubt, be speedy but thorough. Then the outcome can be dealt with in a measured way. I have no doubt but that the Commissioner will cooperate fully with the inquiry and therefore there is no need for a lynching or for her to 'step aside'.
The Commissioner was in an invidious position when the allegations were initially reported. Firstly, the allegations were quite vague and, secondly, she was not given the opportunity to put forward a response. In fact, she is precluded by legislation from doing just that.
It is a fundamental tenet of our legal system that individuals are given an opportunity to respond to any allegations.
Moreover, this is profoundly relevant and adhered to in employment law. So it is amazing that politicians belonging to parties who have for decades advocated and campaigned for civil rights for themselves, seek to deny those rights to others and use Dáil privilege to make all sorts of accusations and calls for resignations. It seems to be a feature of left-wing ideology.
So Justice O'Neill will rectify this and ensure fair procedures.
Ms O'Sullivan has said she was "not privy to nor approved of any action designed to target any Garda employee" with a further reiteration that any Garda members who raise concerns "will be taken seriously and the matters examined".
I fully accept what she has said. I have known Nóirín O Sullivan for many years and she is an upright, diligent and professional police officer not given to mistruths. She came up through the ranks of frontline policing in Dublin city and to reach the top job she had to be beyond reproach. Moreover, given the previous history of dealing with whistleblower allegations in the force one would be careless or foolish to ignore such matters. And Ms O'Sullivan is neither.
I served for over three years as a personal assistant to the then Garda Commissioner.
Given the sheer volume of meetings, conferences, both national and international, the commissioner is required to attend, allied to decisions relating to crime, traffic and security operations, the workload is enormous.
And the commissioner is also the accounting officer for the force and responsible for State security. So there is a chance that issues can fall through the cracks.
In an ideal world this should not be the case - but then we don't live in an ideal world.
We should also remember that the reforming of the force was a mammoth undertaking.
And during this period, Ms O'Sullivan was without the two deputy commissioners, a number of assistant commissioners and a depleted middle management structure operating with a restricted budget.
Of course, anything of the nature as alleged is gravely serious and should have been a priority and given urgent attention.
Therefore, when the judge has finished his inquiry and the full facts become clear, if any evidence comes to light of wrongdoing by any senior management, then the person or persons responsible should be held to account.
But everybody is entitled to fairness and due process - something that elected politicians are advocating should be denied to Commissioner Nóirín O'Sullivan.
Irish Independent
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