Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leo as ucht an cur i láthair. I, too, acknowledge the work of the Department in that period of time and also the shocking reduction in the level of resources that were made available.

We are coming from the perspective that the Garda was actively seeking the statement from Mr. Ryan.

There was a view that there was nothing new in the document so therefore its immediacy was not obvious to the Department. That was a decision made prior to going through the 5,000 supporting documents and surely that will be a decision for after those documents have been examined.

Why did this have to go through the Minister's office before it should have gone to the Garda? Should a copy not have been sent to gardaí anyway? Why did it have to spend two years there?