Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----or, in the absence of clear facts, promote assumptions of dishonesty or something worse.

I sit next to Deputy Shatter in Cabinet and I have got to know him well in recent years. Any fair-minded person who has followed his three years in government knows him to be reforming, intelligent, extremely hard working, at times combative and, most importantly, willing to take on significant social and justice reforms that successive Fianna Fáil Governments ignored to the detriment of the Irish public.

There has been a series of difficult issues to handle in the Department of Justice and Equality since the beginning of the year. Serious accusations were made by credible whistleblowers about the fixed notice and penalty points system and other legal issues. We have had a GSOC scandal, with accusations of bugging. Now we have very serious issues around the recording of conversations in Garda stations and, as of today, prisons. These have potential implications for certain legal cases.

None of these issues was of the Minister's making. Where he has made mistakes, he has apologised and, in the case of whistleblowers, corrected the record last week. Apart from that, he has focused on getting to the truth of each issue by making statements in the Dáil and at Oireachtas committees and by setting up a combination of investigations, inquiries and now a commission of inquiry in the case of the recordings.

While Fianna Fáil uses its time in the House to continue targeting a Minister, the priority for the Government is to deal with the unfolding Garda recordings issue. As the House knows, the Government has taken decisions on this issue. We have decided to establish a statutory commission of inquiry and have appointed Mr. Justice Nial Fennelly as its chair. The terms of reference will be finalised shortly. We will ensure the retention and preservation of all tapes and access to those tapes will be in accordance with the law. We expect the Cooke and Guerin inquiries to be completed later this month. A Cabinet committee on justice reform will be established immediately to reinforce the importance of this issue to the Government collectively as well as to the Minister, Deputy Shatter.

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