Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We have reached the eleventh day of a scandal in which the Minister, Deputy Shatter, has been at the epicentre. First, there was the alleged bugging of the GSOC offices. Then there was the rubbishing of those claims as baseless innuendo by the Minister. He misled the Dáil last Tuesday regarding the report he received from GSOC. Now, there is new information in the public domain as a result of documents which have now gone to the Taoiseach - it is new information to the Taoiseach but not to the Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter - that a whistleblower within the Garda has used every opportunity to bring to the attention of the appropriate authorities misconduct, malpractice and destruction of documents within the Garda Síochána regarding serious abuses up to the highest level of murder. The Minister says the Taoiseach is looking at the letter he received yesterday, but does she acknowledge that the Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter, received this complaint in 2012? Can she acknowledge that the Minister, Deputy Shatter, spoke to the Garda Commissioner and furnished a three-letter response to the confidential recipient, Mr. Connolly?

Mr. Connolly's is the only head that has rolled in this scandal. Why was it his head that rolled? In the GSOC bugging controversy, the fact that the whistleblowers were rubbished, the penalty points debacle and the issue of the cover-up of alleged malpractice within the Garda, why was it Mr. Connolly's head that rolled? It was clear from the justice spokesperson on "Morning Ireland" this morning that it is because he made derogatory comments about the Minister, Deputy Shatter. That goes to the crux of the matter. It is about protecting the Minister and the Garda Commissioner at all costs. Forget about the alleged bugging of GSOC and the fact that a whistleblower has tried to bring this evidence into the public domain and to the proper authorities for many years. The head of Mr. Connolly, who made comments about Deputy Shatter, had to roll.

Let us look at the comments he made, some of which have been put on the public record.

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