Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As the Deputy knows, there was a great deal of concern about events taking place in County Donegal. There were allegations of which I was aware. I had no means of establishing their veracity and raised appropriate questions in the House. Eventually the Morris tribunal was established. I was the Fine Gael justice spokesperson at the time. My former colleague in this House, Mr. Jim Higgins, MEP, was the justice spokesperson immediately preceding me. He did a lot of work on the issue, as did Deputy Brendan Howlin, now a Minister. When Mr. Higgins took up another position, I was justice spokesperson. I proposed motions in the House which ultimately led to the Morris tribunal.

I had no information to suggest that what has now been revealed was taking place in Garda stations. I was simply told there was an issue in County Donegal and I raised questions. All of us in the House are familiar with the Morris tribunal which sat for a very long time and produced a report. It is some considerable time since I read the report, but I have no recollection of any finding that there was a taping operation going on in Garda stations throughout the country. If there had been, we would have all known about it a long time ago. When I was appointed, I did not ask the Garda Commissioner whether there was a telephone system in Garda stations to tape telephone calls. It would not have occurred to me that such a system was operating. I again reiterate that the first I knew of it was in the briefing I received in the Department - a detailed briefing by officials - on Monday evening. Towards the end of the briefing the Taoiseach contacted me and I joined him and the Attorney General for a conversation.

I was not present on Sunday, but I understand the Taoiseach and the Attorney General who work extraordinarily hard and extremely long hours were working in their Departments. I may be wrong, but it is my understanding they were both working. It may have been the case that the Attorney General was working at home; as I have not asked this question, I do not want to give a version of which I cannot be sure for fear of someone accusing me of misleading the House. My understanding is a conversation took place in the context of a set of civil proceedings which I referenced earlier but into which I cannot go because of the fact that matters are pending before the courts. The Attorney General briefed the Taoiseach about her concerns.

The Attorney General is extraordinarily hard-working and for fear of some new myth developing, she and I speak to each other regularly about new legislation being drafted. As it happens, this was not an issue with which I was personally familiar. Of course, I knew proceedings were taking place, but as Minister, I am not involved in the day-to-day engagement in these proceedings. They are dealt with through the Chief State's Solicitors office and the Office of the Attorney General and counsel who are appointed to deal with these matters.

As I said previously, there is no more mystery about this. As I understand it, both the Attorney General, having assessed the full background as information became available to her, and the Taoiseach took the matter very seriously. I took it very seriously. During the course of this evening Deputies have raised some of the issues of concern. There are all sorts of possible implications, which is why a decision was made to have an independent commission of inquiry to address the matter. I cannot put it any further than this. It would be unfortunate-----

See this speech in context