Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The only person recently who has suggested that the Minister is too close to the Garda Commissioner is Mr. Oliver Connolly in the transcript of his conversation with Maurice McCabe. I am not suggesting that; he suggested it in the transcript. Setting that issue aside, does the Minister not think the fact that a security firm that is expert in this area that investigated possible bugging of the commission's office and revealed a threat which it said is Government level technology is evidence of possible bugging and possible wrongdoing? It is not definitive evidence but surely it is worrying evidence that something needs to be looked into. Instead of the Minister saying he was worried about this in the Dáil last week, that we need to look into it and there are serious matters of concern here that need to be investigated, he decided to say there is absolutely no connection, there is no definitive evidence, end of story and let us move on. Does he think that was an appropriate and correct response to evidence that any reasonable person looking at it objectively would say, "I am concerned about that"? Will the Minister not accept that public confidence in the Garda and in his handling of this has been seriously damaged and that the public is not convinced that we are getting to the truth of this matter?