Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Let me outline the difficulty I have with the way the Commissioner has portrayed the sequence of events. This is to leave aside the independence of the report, or even the outcome, because that has been fully ventilated. In Mr. Callinan's earlier contribution he painted a scenario in which a garda had been caught printing material that he says was being handed over to a Dáil Deputy in a manner Mr. Callinan understands to be inappropriate. Mr. Callinan stated the individuals concerned were not interviewed in the course of the independent inquiry because of an issue of anonymity. I do not know whether it was by accident or design, but I presume it was accidental. What occurred gave an entirely wrong impression of the sequence of events because, as far back as March, the two officers concerned in good faith went through the appropriate procedures within An Garda Síochána in making a disclosure. They saw no response from the Commissioner and - I can only surmise - as a result of concern or frustration, they felt they had to bring these matters into the public domain. Of course, as we now know, that is what triggered the public discussion and the inquiry into these matters. I really do not believe it is fair at a meeting of the committee or elsewhere to suggest the two individuals in question acted in any way other than entirely properly and honourably and in good faith. The Commissioner did not give that impression to the committee and the record needs to be corrected on that score.