I tried hard not to laugh. No doubt about it. A guard who wouldn’t have his tax bang up to date was capable of corruption of the most insidious kind.

The man from north Cork came into my head last week when the latest allegations of garda malpractice were aired in the Dáil. Clare Daly, used Leader’s Questions to air an allegation that gardaí had been involved in a fatal shooting, and senior elements of the force in covering it up.

“This is a question regarding a person who contacted you, (Enda Kenny) last year and told you he had information of a garda being present in a room when a civilian was shot by gardaí and of being ordered by his superiors to say he wasn’t present,” Ms Daly said.

If there is any truth to the allegation, then we’re in more serious trouble than ever imagined. The commissioner and most senior management would have to resign immediately, and a criminal investigation commenced. If there is substance to it, criminal charges should be brought against everybody who had any role in either murder or cover-up. And if Kenny or any of his ministers know anything about it, and haven’t acted with proper authority, they have to go immediately. A police force involved in murdering a citizen and covering up the crime takes on the character of a fascist gang.

There was a time when the airing of such an allegation in parliament would have brought the airways alive, generated pages of print, and cleared the Dáil agenda. That was a time when most citizens would have regarded such a declaration in the citadel of democracy as “gospel”. Yet, there was precious little reaction. Are we now at a stage where the media and general public shrug shoulders when a startling allegation is made under parliamentary privilege?

A fortnight ago, Daly’s kindred spirit, Mick Wallace, also made allegations of garda malpractice under parliamentary privilege. He alluded to serious corruption by a senior officer, identifiable from the details supplied by Wallace.

The allegations were aired while the annual conference of the association of sergeants and inspectors (AGSI) was taking place. AGSI president Tim Galvin was not amused, saying there were no consequences for TDs who made allegations under privilege. “We all need to be treated in a fair and equitable fashion, not one rule for the privileged few, who can use privileges for political gain,” he said.

Last week, it emerged the association of Garda Superintendents has lodged a formal complaint with the Ceann Comhairle about parliamentary privilege being used to tarnish the good name of its members.

The role of Daly and Wallace in making allegations under privilege is complicated by a few factors. Both could claim to be the victims of garda malpractice themselves. In January 2013 Daly was arrested for drink driving, handcuffed, and put in a cell — it turned out she was not over the limit. The arrest was then leaked to the media within hours. This was at a time when she was prominent in highlighting abuse of the penalty points system.

Wallace once received a casual, verbal caution about using a mobile phone while stopped at a traffic light. That inconsequential encounter was conveyed all the way to the then garda commissioner, who passed it onto then Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, who in turn aired it on TV in an attempt to discredit Wallace.

So both have some idea of what elements in the force are capable of. That experience could either cloud judgement, or prompt an astute head to exercise caution in dealing with the issue, lest an agenda be perceived.

Both TDs were involved in exposing the penalty points scandal, which included the use of Dáil privilege to accurately name high-profile individuals who had had their points quashed.

Wallace used Dáil privilege in January last year to read a transcript of a conversation between Sergeant Maurice McCabe and the confidential recipient Oliver Connolly. That intervention, it could be argued, ultimately led to the establishment of the Guerin Report, and vindication of McCabe’s serious allegations about malpractice in criminal investigations.

Now, however, questions arise as to whether both TDs are airing allegations under privilege without any hard evidence. Having been proved right in relation to McCabe, are they just taking a punt that all other allegations might have some substance?

This newspaper was to the fore in reporting McCabe’s allegations and exposing malpractice within the force. But it is also a given other allegations against gardai are without foundation.

Filtering is required to find out which have substance and demand further attention. My friend in North Cork is not alone in harbouring a grudge against a member of the force. Others genuinely believe their serious allegations have substance, but that belief may be contaminated by a grievance of one sort or another. Just because somebody has a legitimate grievance, it does not automatically follow that malpractice is at issue. And then, there are the allegations that do have substance.

A review panel is examining around 300 cases where garda malpractice is alleged. Inevitably, a large number of these will be deemed to be unworthy of further examination. That’s what filtering is about.

Using Dáil privilege as a filter is not on. For that privilege to retain its power and legitimacy, it needs to be used sparingly and within the framework for which it was designed.

The cavalier manner in which privilege appears to have been availed of by Wallace and Daly is in a different league to its cynical use by Mary Lou McDonald, who named former politicians as being suspected of tax evasion and cover up. (The politicians all denied it subsequently).

It does, however, further devalue a concept which is a vital tenet in a democracy. There is understandable disaffection with mainstream politics right now, but that does not legitimise the devaluing of all traditions of parliament, particularly one that is a valuable tool in particular circumstances. Let’s be careful out there.

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