Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The events of the past two days, with revelations of widespread institutionalised violations of civil rights by gardaí, coming in the wake of the penalty points scandal and the bugging of the GSOC office, represent without question a crisis for the justice system in this State and for the Garda Síochána and the coalition Government.

The country is still trying to come to terms with the revelation that telephone conversations to and from Garda stations were routinely recorded for many years and under successive Garda Commissioners and successive Ministers for justice, including the current Minister, Deputy Alan Shatter, and Commissioner Martin Callinan, who has now resigned. The implications of that for the civil rights of citizens and for the integrity of the justice system are profound. One could ask whether innocent people have been convicted of offences they did not commit as a result of that and whether guilty people will walk free because their convictions might now be found flawed on the basis of the systematic eavesdropping.

The Minister’s speech this morning did absolutely nothing to address the true depth of the crisis or to acknowledge his own central role in it. On the contrary, he could not wait to rush through his highly questionable narrative about his knowledge of the Garda recordings before he launched into yet another of his tirades against the Opposition and those who dare to challenge his performance as Minister. He did not even have the grace to acknowledge that there is deep public concern reflected in the Oireachtas on all sides and that the country has only begun to come to terms with the enormity of what is being revealed. The narrative the Minister skipped over is quite incredible. The GSOC report of June 2013 relating to phone call recording in a particular case stated: “On consideration of the ruling of the court the Garda Commissioner may wish to re-evaluate his practice regarding the recording of such calls and the consents required if it is to be permissible to use such recordings in evidence.” Is it credible that the report was not noticed by the Department of Justice and Equality and that its importance and implications were not realised or brought to the attention of the Minister when it was published? If it was brought to the Minister’s attention then he misled the Dáil this morning. If it was not brought to his attention then that is an admission of gross incompetence on the part of the Department of Justice and Equality.

Is it credible that the Minister only saw the letter from the Garda Commissioner at 6 p.m. on Monday? If that is indeed the case, it shows a truly astonishing level of incompetence, or worse, in the Department of Justice and Equality. One could ask what it says about the role of the Attorney General and the level of communication between the Attorney General and the Minister.

Are we still expected to believe that the Garda recording scandal was not central to the decision of the Garda Commissioner to resign? The questions are multiplying and neither the Minister, Deputy Shatter, nor the Taoiseach has done anything to address them properly. Their contributions raise far more questions than they answer.

We are told that reform of the Garda will now accelerate. I hope and trust that it will. We are told that the latest scandal will be fully investigated and I hope it will be, but we must also have full accountability and full information from the Minister for Justice and Equality and from the Government. The Minister and the Government have failed to provide that accountability and information. With respect, I believe the Minister should indeed leave office. The Attorney General must also account fully for her actions, or lack of them, in all of this as the case may be. Are we now going to have a situation where the Labour Party in government is calling for the resignation of the Fine Gael Minister for Justice and Equality and as a quid pro quothe Fine Gael Party in government is threatening to call in turn for the resignation of the Attorney General, a Labour nominee?

Instead of looking after number one, each of these parties should consider the great damage their prevarication has caused. There can be no more riding this out. It is long past time that the cold light of day was faced and that this coalition removed Deputy Shatter from ministerial office and if the suspected failures of her office are confirmed, the Attorney General should follow fast on his heels. In his statement this afternoon the Minister, Deputy Shatter, said: "I hope that my correcting the record of the Dáil today will put this matter to rest" - well he might so hope.

This minimalist apology would have had more credibility if it had expressed the hope that his correcting the record would have gone some way towards addressing the great hurt and harm intentionally done to Garda Sergeant McCabe and to the former garda, John Wilson. For the Minister, Deputy Shatter, it is all about getting beyond this mess, primarily of his own making, and at the least cost to himself.

Sadly, there is little in this latest address by the Minister, Deputy Shatter, to this House that comes anywhere close to a real statement of contrition. Let the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste note well that the Minister's attempts to ride this out further will cost their parties dearly.

See this speech in context