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

The only people who have been endeavouring to sow confusion on this issue are the Taoiseach and the Minister. I ask the Taoiseach to clarify the role and remit of the retired High Court judge. Can we expect a commission of inquiry under the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004 or simply the appointment of a retired judge to review documentation and make subsequent recommendations? Is that the scale of what will happen in respect of a matter that is extremely important?

I put it to the Taoiseach that the Minister did not level with the Dáil last week. He did not share written information that was in his possession because he wanted to down play the entire matter by saying it was just a bottle of smoke. One could hear the message on the news bulletins over the following 24 hours that we should move on because it was a bottle of smoke. The members of the commission had to go on "Prime Time" to bury that notion. The Minister did not refer to the fact that a public interest investigation had been invoked, that government level technology was being used or that the likelihood that the threats were benign was remote or close to zero. He should man up and apologise to the House for his behaviour on this issue and the manner in which he treated GSOC. The issue is wider than this. I raised it with the Taoiseach last week and it is not going away because I will be raising it again this week. There is something fundamentally wrong at the very core of the administration of justice. The Minister has taken the wrong route on this issue and on a number of other issues that go to the very heart of the administration of justice in this country. I know that certain Ministers know this. It is time the Taoiseach wised up to it.

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