Kevin Humphreys (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

From the beginning of this I have been very clear about my concerns about civil liberties and the possibility that gardaí were collecting information about politicians and high profile individuals and passing it on to the Minister for Justice of the day and the Cabinet. I have said very clearly that the Minister was wrong in the way he used that information on "Prime Time" about Deputy Wallace. I very much welcome this evening the absolute clarity of the Minister's statement. It is worth repeating:

Do I think it was a mistake to mention the incident regarding Deputy Wallace? I explained my reasoning but put simply, I do.

If more Ministers would respond with that kind of clarity, this House would be an awful lot better for it and I congratulate the Minister. I also accept the Minister's solemn assurances that he was never "in the business of receiving, seeking or maintaining confidential, sensitive information", as he said very clearly last Thursday. I tabled written questions.

The Minister has again provided a clear answer to these questions. If Fianna Fáil does not believe this is the case, let us put out the facts rather than quote the Irish Independent. All I heard in the earlier debate was people reading from this morning's Irish Independent, adding nothing new and probably wasting time.

I believe no politician should use confidential information from Garda sources for political purposes and I do not believe two wrongs make a right. I believe Deputy McGrath has questions to answer about where he received his misleading information. In my view, the charge he levelled against the Minister last Thursday during Leaders' Questions was an abuse of privilege in the House. It was an attempt to smear the Minister but it also smeared the Garda. Many gardaí were horrified at the way in which information has been used in this House in recent weeks.

I represent a working-class constituency in Dublin South-East. One of the hardest jobs I have is to convince people to give information to the Garda, telling them it will remain confidential. However, given the kind of issues we hear about from the newspapers in recent days, people are now saying to me, "Kevin, you told me that information that goes to the gardaí is confidential and it'll never be used. Look what we're reading about in the papers". Confidential information is coming out all the time.

The Minister, Deputy Shatter, outlined the work he has carried out during the past two years and I commend him for it. I have confidence in him, as Minister for Justice and Equality. He has proved himself to be a reforming and crusading Minister in modernising our laws and our justice system, while taking on vested interests. I found some aspects of this very difficult. Deputy Collins tabled a motion of no confidence even before the Minister came into the House. When this issue blew up on Friday, I asked the Minister to attend the House and explain the situation, which he did, and he gave further clarification. Deputy Collins tabled this motion of no confidence on the "Six-One News", without even hearing the Minister's response. The Deputy forgets what is in the DNA of Fianna Fáil. I remember very clearly Fianna Fáil putting taps on journalists' telephones, it is very much in the party's DNA.

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