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

The last while has not been good for the administration of justice. We have had the saga of the whistleblowers at the Committee of Public Accounts, the revelation last week by Deputy Mick Wallace, which he put on the Dáil record, of an alleged transcript of a conversation between the garda whistleblower, Maurice McCabe, and the confidential garda recipient, Oliver Connolly, and now we have had a report of bugging of the Garda Ombudsman's office. I put it to the Taoiseach that the report in The Sunday Times in regard to that issue is very serious but all the Government seems to have done in response is to deliver a frenzy against the Ombudsman's office, essentially turning around the issue and turning him into a villain as opposed to a victim. I put it to the Taoiseach that the fundamental issue should be: was the office bugged, who would have been involved in it, and in that context, I ask him if he will establish an independent panel of inquiry to determine the truth around that?

The revelations contained in a transcript between Oliver Connolly, the confidential garda recipient and the whistleblower, Maurice McCabe, is very serious in terms of what that contains and saps any confidence one could have in our institutions.

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