Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Had Deputy Mattie McGrath been apprised of the situation, he might have a very different view. In conversation with the Attorney General about the specific case referred to, I also received the information from her that the potential scale was far beyond the particular case. I want to make it clear that in the assessment of the contents of a small number of tapes that had been transcribed and assessed the most serious implications had come to light in the context of a case and possibly others. As Taoiseach, I thought that this matter was of very considerable concern in the sense of having confidence, public accountability and trust in the justice system. For that reason, I advised the Attorney General that all of the facts both of the individual case and the wider trawl should be assessed by somebody competent in the legal profession to see how serious the issue was. As I informed Deputy Micheál Martin, that was done all day Monday. I spoke to the Minister for Justice and Equality that evening. He was briefed on the issue in his Department for the first time.

Deputy Micheál Martin asked why the Attorney General had not made the information available before.

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