Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The controversy about whether the office of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission was bugged has highlighted the dysfunctional relationship between GSOC, the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for Justice and Equality. The Government's reaction to this shows that the Taoiseach has not fully embraced the need for independent oversight of State agencies or institutions, despite that recent history has shown that it is the absence of such oversight that has been at the root of many of the recent scandals.

We all know that GSOC is an independent body, committed to upholding the integrity of An Garda Síochána, like all of us here in the Oireachtas. It is charged with the oversight of An Garda Síochána, although not of the Garda Commissioner. The Taoiseach's insistence that GSOC was obliged or compelled to report to the Minister and his repeated misquoting of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, even after I corrected him in this Chamber, has undermined GSOC. That may not have been the Taoiseach's intention, and I accept that we all make little slips, but it may have been the intention of those who leaked the story in the first place. My point is that the Government's reaction has undermined the independence and integrity of GSOC when it should be upholding its integrity and independence.

Will the Taoiseach take the opportunity now to correct the Dáil record by reading into that record section 80(5) of the Garda Síochána Act 2005, which makes it clear that the commission is not obliged to report to the Minister? In fact, the section of the Act states that it may make available any other report it considers appropriate, so GSOC was entirely within its rights not to report to the Minister at the time.

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