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

Following the evidence of the chairman of GSOC to the Joint Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions yesterday it has become evident that the Government has sought to mislead citizens about the bugging controversy. Let us be clear. To avoid surveillance, members of a Government oversight agency were forced to meet in cafés rather than hold meetings in their offices and to stop using their mobile phones. This is an outrageous situation. The Government response has been equally outrageous. The Taoiseach and Minister for Justice and Equality came into this Chamber and made statements on the record that have been flatly contradicted by the chairman of GSOC. It is clear that the Government tried to shut down the demand for transparency surrounding the bugging scandal at GSOC. According to the Taoiseach and Minister, Deputy Shatter, there was no evidence of bugging. They told us that claims of bugging were baseless innuendo, that the sweep of the GSOC office last year was routine and was prompted by no specific concern. The Taoiseach told the Dáil that we could now put this matter behind us - nothing to see here.

The Ombudsman believes, and has evidence to support his belief, that there was a credible threat to the security of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. We now know that the security sweep of the GSOC office was sparked by heightened concerns of breaches of confidentiality last May. We also know that following assessment of the threats identified in the sweep in September a public interest investigation was ordered as the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission believed authorised or unauthorised elements of the Garda Síochána may have been involved in this surveillance. Did the Minister know of this?

The chairman has now also confirmed that the third threat came from government level technology. The Minister for Justice and Equality was briefed on all of this but the account he chose to give to the Dáil on Tuesday is at odds with that outlined by the chairman of GSOC yesterday. The Minister for Justice and Equality, it appears, has sought to muddy the waters and this is unacceptable. Will the Tánaiste step up and move speedily to establish an independent inquiry?

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