23 February 2010
The following is the text of Minister Sargent’s resignation speech which he delivered in the Dáil this afternoon.
A Ceann Chomhairle, I thank you for the opportunity to explain to the House the circumstances of the clinic enquiry I received in June 2008 relating to an assault in September 2007 which were partially reported in the media this afternoon.
A victim of an assault came to me to voice his frustration at the slow progress being made with a case where he alleged he had been head-butted when he told me he had reported vandalism to parents of a child he had seen trying to remove a road sign in their housing estate.
My intention was to ensure the Gardaí were aware I had received a representation from a victim in an alleged assault and that the full preparation of the case would benefit from witnesses not yet interviewed being interviewed before proceeding further. The victim was afraid for his safety, meanwhile.
I accept however that although my actions in contacting An Garda Siochána were not a criminal offence, under Section 6 of the Prosecutions of Offences Act 1974 such a communication could be deemed not lawful. In this regard, I accept I made an error of judgement. Accordingly I hereby tender my resignation forthwith as Minister of State for Food and Horticulture.
I don’t know whether this website doesn’t display comments, but I would have thought there would be SOME here, given your recent news. More likely, perhaps, that you’re inundated.
Anyway, I’ve lived in the UK for over 20 years now, but keep an eye on things back home via RTE.ie and I just wanted to express my admiration for the way you handle yourself. Yes, perhaps there was an “error of judgement” but anyone with the sense to read between the lines should be confident that your intentions were, at all times, strictly honourable.
I choose that term carefully, for I do believe that you are a person of strict honour. The more I have read about you in recent days, the more I realise that Ireland needs more people like you.
I hope this blows over relatively quickly, I hope things work out well for Mr. McGowan and I wish you every success for the future.
Pat Ryan
Warwickshire
UK
Cruel, cruel world!
I totally agree with Pat Ryans comments – I couldn’t have put it better myself. And if reports are true that you donated your Golden Handshake to SVP then that makes you a true hero in my eyes. Its a pity some of the fat cats who have left this country in such a desperate state don’t have the guts or the morals to follow suit with their enormous bonus payments. Its obvious you chose your political career based on what you could do for your country rather than what financial gains were available. I wish you well in whatever you choose to do in the future – I have no doubt that it will be something honest and worthy. Congratulations on sticking with your principals and beliefs – we need more people like you in government.
And good luck with your gardening project which I have just read about – I too am trying to Grow My Own with reasonable success and will be following your blog with interest.
Well done on behaving with integrity while surrounded by those amadáns. There was no error of judgement here but it made my heart glad nevertheless.
Comghairdeachas leat.
If anyone can bounce back from this it’s you, Trevor. I have to agree with what’s being said Ireland needs people like you in government, best wishes-Mary W
Dear Mr Sargent, I believe the Greens to be a party of decent government. When I came to live here from NI I found it admirable that the Garda had one of the highest acceptance ratings of any police force in Europe. Obviously with NI having a long struggle to make that happen , I though this was very admirable, a cornerstone of democracy. But some disturbing things happened, eg a tribunal over Garda behaviour in Donegal. And I read alarming comments recently from Emily O’Reilly, ombudsman : This said that we have dozens if not hundreds of semi state bodies whose board members can be unelected, and receive large state fees . Yet these bodies are not open to Freedom of information requests- and neither are the Garda. Emily O’Reilly said that in the case of the Garda, this situation was unique in Europe.
So in the aftermath of all this I would like to see greater focus on Garda behaviour, much more openness, Freedom of information etc. After all we want to see our police force with exactly the same standards and accountability as any other respected EU nation. Yours sincerely ,
Catherine Mc Verry
By the way , congratulations, yourself and Ciaran Cuffe, have been nominated for Best Political blog in the 2010 Irish Blog Awards
Dear Mr Sargent,
When I came to live in Dun Laoghaire ( From NI) 13 yrs ago, I never voted for anyone but the Labour party and the Greens because at the very least I could trust both parties to keep their fingers out of the till and to try to make a decent job of performing the role the people elected them to do.
It doesn’t say much for the impression I got of Irish politicians , but there you are. I believe in the Greens as much for their role in promoting decent government, and good standards of behavior in bodies that serve the public, as I am interested in the green issues.
I never read Independent newspapers much, only about once every 5 years.I am always very shocked at the often sneering tone of this group, the kind of ‘issues’ ( often non issues) it thinks worthy of highlighting and a steady stream of misinformation, on many diverse subjects which comes forth from it.
CertainlyI never rely on this newspaper group for serious non biased information on the serious issues facing the country.
I often suspect it is mostly a vehicle for making money-as evidenced by the fact that their sales and printing jobs went a few years ago to low wage and low cost Newry and Armagh.
Really it’s a bit much that Mr Ahern decided to spend his 10,000 local pub win on ‘paying a few debts and a few pints.’ In fact such a comment is worthy of a comedy sketch. He might not have noticed people are suffering, neither evidently did Willie O’Dea.
It was very kind of you to make such a large donation to SV deP, and many people have commented on it.
Yours sincerely
Catherine Mc Verry
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