Nothing learned about Garda whistleblowers

FINE Gael’s leadership contest offers change at the top of Government.

Last night’s hustings between Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney was an invigorating affair. The candidates made their respective pitches to the party grassroots at the Red Cow Inn in Dublin.

Although the vote may be academic due to the commitments of the party TDs, Senators and MEPs, it is productive to hear adult debate about the political choices facing the electorate.

Roll on the next three debates and hopefully these discussions will rub off on the wider political spectrum and even make its way into Dáil Éireann.

However, without change in the way our country operates, it will be a futile exercise. A criticism of the Enda Kenny era in the taoiseach’s office is the failure to fundamentally change how Ireland is run.

The final push from the Fine Gael parliamentary party against Mr Kenny came as a result of his handling of the Garda whistleblower affair and the consistent failure to deal adequately with the serious allegations of wrongdoing being made by Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

Now another Garda scandal is unfolding before our eyes and the Government’s handling of the affair again leaves a lot to be desired.

In the latest development in the Templemore saga, the Garda’s executive director of finance Michael Culhane wrote to Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan claiming the whistleblower who flagged concerns about the Garda training college ‘slush fund’, head of human resources John Barrett, could be guilty of a criminal offence.

Clearly nothing has been learned about the treatment of whistleblowers.