Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The statement by the Minister for Justice and Equality last evening left many people very disappointed and left many more questions to be answered. He succeeded in dragging the Garda Commissioner into this debacle, claiming that it was through a casual aside that he learned of the information about Deputy Wallace, although earlier in the week, he had said it was an official briefing or that he was advised. He failed, however, to explain how such a minor incident involving a Deputy could find its way up to the Commissioner's desk, despite the fact that it was not even recorded on the PULSE system and, furthermore, why the Commissioner felt it necessary to pass that information on to him. The crucial issue remains as to why the Minister decided to utilise that information in a political debate to undermine a political opponent.

His non-apology was an insult and it missed the point. Deputy Wallace may be entitled to a personal apology but the issue is much wider than that. It is about the abuse of private information about a citizen that comes into the possession of a Minister. Is that right or wrong? The apology should have been about the misuse of that information and the abuse of his position. It was a half-hearted apology but, crucially, it missed the essential point, the essence of this issue.

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