Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 12 February 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions

Security and Protocol Issues: Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission

6:25 pm

Photo of Mick WallaceMick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The statement of the Minister, Deputy Shatter, was incredibly careful and qualified. He confirmed only that no definitive evidence of unauthorised technical or electronic surveillance of the office was found. He did not mention what kind of evidence was found or if there was authorised or lawful surveillance in place. He did not go on record in the House to confirm this or allude to it at all. Moreover, there were phrases in his speech which qualified much of what he was saying, including "the facts as they are known to me", "as much information as I can", "no definitive evidence found", "database ... not compromised", "based on the information available to me at present", "the Garda have been subject to what appears to be a baseless innuendo" and "not in possession of the full facts".

All of this conditionality, caveats and qualifications in the Minister's knowledge and confirmation to the House means he has admitted to not being fully informed or aware of the facts surrounding these allegations. In these circumstances it is very surprising that he has no interest in setting up an independent inquiry to establish them. It is his statutory responsibility as Minister to address such issues and establish such facts. The low level of confirmation provided is surely not satisfactory for matters of State security. Should there be an independent inquiry in order to eliminate the lack of clarification on matters of suspicion and doubt? Will it be very difficult for the public to have confidence in this? It is not rocket science, and many Irish people believe that GSOC was bugged by An Garda Síochána-----

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