Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate.

The Minister made much in his statement tonight of the fact that people deliberately tried to twist what he said and the law. He and the Taoiseach have tried to muddy the waters regarding the whole controversy and scandal that has been raging for the past nine days. The Taoiseach stated in the public domain on Monday, and again on Tuesday, that GSOC had an obligation under the Garda Síochána Act to report to the Minister and that it did not do so. That was clearly not true.

The Minister said last Tuesday that he had taken the opportunity to underscore the importance of prompt reporting to him of issues of concern, as provided for under the legislation governing GSOC. The legislation does not provide that GSOC is required to report to the Minister. The Minister has said tonight that he assumed that Members were familiar with the Act, but one must wonder if he is familiar with it because he is certainly clouding the issue with the statements he is making. The statements made by him and the Taoiseach have allowed the controversy to drag on.

Last Thursday night, during his interview on "Prime Time", the Minister said there was an express obligation under the Act for GSOC to report to him and he quoted section 103 of the Act. That section does not provide for any express obligation on GSOC to report to the Minister. In fact, it states GSOC can choose not to report "for any other reason not to be in the public interest". That is expressly what Mr. Simon O'Brien said to the Oireachtas committee last week, that GSOC had the view that it would not be in the public interest to put it in the public domain by reporting its concerns to the Minister in respect of the surveillance incident that had taken place.

The Minister also referred tonight to the bogus 3G matter and attempted to play it down. He said he had read the transcripts of the Oireachtas committee's proceedings last week. If he had, he would have seen that Mr. Simon O'Brien stated there were British operatives with British mobile phones in the GSOC building at the time it was detected. When asked who they were, he said they were the investigators for the English security firm it had brought over to investigate the problem. When asked if it was possible that this false 3G device could have been activated to eavesdrop on their telephones, he confirmed that it was entirely plausible and possible.

The amendment tabled by the Minister states a retired High Court judge will investigate all matters of relevance to the initiation and outcome of the investigation commenced by GSOC on 7 October 2013. Conveniently, that leaves the Minister, his reaction and handling of this fiasco out of the picture. This must be included in the investigation also, as it goes to the heart of the clarity required.

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