Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Taoiseach said that the Minister for Justice and Equality did not cause the current crisis. The manner in which he has responded to it is what marks him out as unsuitable for office.

The Government's amazingly inefficient and incohesive response has led me to try to figure out why this is so. I am of the view that I now know why it is so. At the root of this ongoing controversy is the Ian Bailey case. Mr. Bailey wrote to the Taoiseach about his case in February. He has also asserted that he wrote to the Minister, Deputy Shatter, in 2012 regarding delays in a GSOC investigation caused by the former Garda Commissioner's refusal to provide requested material to the investigating team. The Bailey case is the real context of the ongoing scandal. People may or may not have known the level of illegal phone recording that was taking place but the former Garda Commissioner certainly knew. It is a matter of public record that he did not co-operate with GSOC, a matter which gives rise to a number of issues. The Minister for Justice and Equality, the Attorney General and the Department of Justice and Equality also knew. Does the Taoiseach agree that the Ian Bailey case lies at the root of the current difficulties?

See this speech in context