Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Adams for his contribution. According to the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission's report on the Waterford case the court referred specifically to the practice engaged in by the gardaí at Waterford Garda station, and the trawl conducted by the working group established by the Garda, and not associated with the Office of the Attorney General, came to the conclusion there were far more tapes than just those in the Waterford case. We now know the extent of the first tranche of these up to 2008. Beyond lie the digital recordings and I do not know the extent of these. This is why we have established the commission of investigation to examine this issue.

The Minister, Deputy Shatter, was not to deal with the question of the whistleblowers in this section of today's discussions. This deals with the revelation of the extent of tape recordings, what they mean and what they might mean for court cases which have been held or pending. Clearly there are implications for defence lawyers and people involved in court cases. I do not know the content of the vast majority of any of these tapes because they must be transcribed. They may be very ordinary queries about very ordinary matters. The point is that in the Waterford case Judge Reynolds deemed the information to be inadmissible.

I do not get a chance to read everything. Obviously I cannot do so. I was not aware, for instance, of the sad cases in the hospital in Portlaoise until the parents called attention to it. One must gets one's facts right and determine what actually happened. It is not related to the justice area but it is parallel.

In this case I went back and read the documentation about the O'Mahoney report in respect of the whistleblowers. I found there was not enough done by the Garda to engage with the whistleblowers presenting information. I expect the Minister, Deputy Shatter, to deal with this when he comes to address the Garda Síochána Inspectorate's report today.

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