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

Ever since the reports appeared in The Sunday Times on the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, being placed under surveillance, the Government, in particular the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Alan Shatter, has sought until now to undermine public confidence in GSOC and essentially rubbish the allegations about the alleged surveillance. The Taoiseach told an untruth, deliberately or otherwise, about GSOC's reporting obligations under the legislation to the Government. That very cleverly switched the focus early on from whether the office had been bugged to the reason GSOC had not reported the matter to the Minister. Last Tuesday when he addressing the Dáil, the Minister essentially said, "There is nothing to report here. Please move on," and he withheld vital information given to him by GSOC in written form. If we look at his statement and contrast it with GSOC's document, it is fascinating to note the deliberate omissions by the Minister, matters he should have placed before the Dáil last Tuesday evening. They include, for example, the security company which was brought in to do the sweep stating the level of technology used was only available to government agencies. The Minister did not say this. In regard to threat No. 2, the conference call facility, the likelihood of the threat being benign was so small as to be at virtually zero. Again, this was air-brushed out of the Minister's presentation. Critically, a public interest investigation was launched pursuant to section 102(4) of the Garda Síochána Act of 2005; essentially, as gardaí were suspects in GSOC's perspective, there was, therefore, the invocation of that section of the Act.

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