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

I thank Mr. Waters for his answer. I just want to say that I am alarmed that this is the manner of his work. I am alarmed that this is the mentality and the approach within the Department of Justice and Equality. We are looking at a big, shambolic mess. The interim report that Mr. Waters now accepts is not about unorthodox practices. It states, categorically and clearly, that there were breaches of the law in plain sight and that these were known definitively, certainly as far back as 2008. All of this has been luridly recounted to this committee. Mr. Waters is the Secretary General of the Department. He is in charge and he has given me a ludicrous, half-baked answer like that. Given the scale and nature of this matter and in light of the nature of the function of An Garda Síochána within this democracy, is it not entirely clear to Mr. Waters that a section 41 disclosure should have been made and that he should have been informed earlier rather than later? In view of the position he holds, how can Mr. Waters sit there and give a half-baked, nonsensical response such as that which he has just provided?