Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Subsequently, the former Garda Commissioner, Martin Callinan, who has enjoyed the Minister's unswerving support, gave evidence to the Committee on Public Accounts and went so far as to say the actions of the two Garda whistleblowers were "disgusting". The Minister and the Garda Commissioner tried to prevent Sergeant McCabe giving evidence to the PAC. Then there was the scandal of allegations of bugging at the office of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC. The Minister's response was to seek to put GSOC in the dock, aided by the Taoiseach, who misrepresented the Garda Síochána Act 2005 by implying that GSOC was the law-breaker. The Minister then summoned the GSOC chairman to his office to ask why he and senior members of the Garda Síochána were not informed about GSOC's suspicions. This action undermined the independence and integrity of that agency.

The Minister told the Dáil there was nothing there, nothing to see and to move on. We then, however, discovered that there were sizeable omissions of terminology in his statement to the Dáil about the report of Verimus, the security firm, given to him by GSOC. A written report was sent to the Minister the night before he made his speech to the Dáil on Tuesday, 11 February. On the following Tuesday, 18 February, the Minister presented a peer review from an Irish security company, Rits, in which he said not only was there no definitive evidence of surveillance or bugging but no evidence whatsoever, and that there would be a rebuttal. We await evidence of that. An Oireachtas committee will seek it in due course.

Instead of establishing a commission of investigation, the Government appointed retired judge, John Cooke, to carry out a review with terms of reference set by the Minister. It falls far short of what is required to get to the bottom of that issue. The Government presented the latest revelation as if it knew nothing until this weekend about it. This ignores the fact that the Government, through the Department of Justice and Equality, knew of these illegal recordings as early as last June, and that the Attorney General, the Minister's Cabinet colleague, knew of them also, at the very latest, by November.

The Government did know but the Taoiseach was not told until Sunday. The Minister claims he knew nothing of this until Monday and Tuesday. By his actions, through his dysfunctional relationship with the Garda Commissioner, and by his failure to deal properly and effectively with a series of highly charged and important issues, the Minister has undermined public confidence in the position of Minister for Justice and Equality, in the Department of Justice and Equality, in An Garda Síochána and in the administration of justice. The appointment of a commission of investigation on this issue will not assuage public concern, given the level of public distrust that now exists. I and my party welcome the fact that the Government has now indicated a belated conversion to the need for a fully accountable, independent Garda authority-----

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