Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy has asked me a question to which I am responding. GSOC has produced the Kieran Boylan report and its annual reports and it has - as it is entirely appropriate and as it is entitled to do, when necessary, as was referenced last week - voiced public criticism of matters of concern. It is not toothless, it has been independent, assertive and has raised issues. The chairman of GSOC, despite the wish of some Members of the House, and not under any pressure from me by the way, has expressed absolute trust in me in my engagement with them. It was confirmed, I think it was by Kieran FitzGerald, at a very early stage in his interview on "Prime Time", something that a lot of people have chosen to ignore for the past week, that the presentation I made in the Dáil last Tuesday week accurately reflected the briefing I had received from it. That was said as well. I have a very simple view which I expressed at an early point. It is important that this body gets on with its work and that there is public confidence in it, and the work we are doing is looking at how we ensure any blockages in that work can be addressed.

On the issue of PULSE, that was an issue of discussion arising out of the Boylan report. The Garda Síochána and GSOC engaged with each other on producing a new protocol, they set out how these issues would be addressed under the new protocol and they were agreed on how they would be addressed, but then we got to the issue of referring the ticket charge matter to GSOC. It seemed to me blindingly obvious that in the context of addressing that issue it was necessary not only that the two members of the gardaí who are seconded to GSOC and under its command can access PULSE but that any members of GSOC engaged in that investigation could do so because it was important that they could see what was on the PULSE system, what information was available and what conclusions could be drawn from it. I concluded, because this was an issue to which I had been giving a substantial amount of thought, despite the protocols being in place, that we should in the future ensure that GSOC would access PULSE, as appropriate, and that is now in place and that is what is happening. If I had no concerns about GSOC operating, if I wanted GSOC to be a spineless body, or a toothless body, which is the phrase the Deputy used, none of those decisions would have been made.