Taoiseach announces ‘radical’ change in Department of Justice

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has promised to take “radical action to restore public confidence in the Department of Justice” as he announced the resignation of Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald.

Mr Varadkar said Ms Fitzgerald, who resigned from the minority government following pressure from opposition parties over her alleged role in the ongoing Garda whistleblowing scandal, was “one of the most reforming Ministers for Justice we have ever had”.

Ms Fitzgerald was Justice Minister from 2014 to 2016, succeeding Alan Shatter and preceding Charlie Flanagan. Latterly, she was in Government as Tánaiste and Business Minister.

Mr Varadkar said he believed “that a good woman is leaving office without getting a full and fair hearing”.

Turning his focus to Ms Fitzgerald’s former Department, he continued: “The events of the past few days have exposed major problems once again within a dysfunctional Department of Justice, including the way important emails were not found and therefore not sent on to the Charleton Tribunal during discovery. I am directing that there will be an external inquiry into that to report before Christmas.

“Systemic problems within the Department were identified in the Toland Report. Minister Fitzgerald began the process of implementing the Report, and this has continued under her successor Charlie Flanagan.

“These reforms will now be accelerated, and the government is planning radical action to restore public confidence in the Department of Justice.”

Mr Vadakar said a new independent and change implementation group will be established to assess progress in implementing the recommendations of the Toland Report; review the culture of the Department and make recommendations for change; examine the relationship between the Department and the Gardaí; and draw on the expertise of the Policing Authority in conducting its work.