Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

If they believe it merited an immediate commission of inquiry, what questions are being asked about the fact that the Government was aware of it that long ago? What does it say about the communication between the Attorney General and the Minister for Justice and Equality that she did not discuss the matter with him immediately? What does it say about the Taoiseach's confidence in the Minister for Justice and Equality that he did not discuss the matter with the Minister immediately as well, once he became aware of it?

Unfortunately, we have seen obfuscation in every attempt to try to get the Minister out of the hole in which he finds himself. Meanwhile, the number of inquiries and commissions ratchet up to the current number of four. Alongside this, there is the issue of the letter and when the Minister became aware of it. Very careful language has been used to cloud whether the Minister knew on the Monday or was briefed on what was in the letter and the fact that the Garda Commissioner had communicated it to his Department two weeks beforehand. Despite that, on the basis of the content referred to in that letter, the Taoiseach asked the Secretary General of the Department of Justice and Equality to make known to the Garda Commissioner his dissatisfaction with how the issue was handled. The Taoiseach said in the House yesterday that he should have known about that letter. It is incomprehensible that the Minister, Deputy Shatter, when engaging with his Secretary General and his officials would not ask questions such as, "Did we know about this before?" or "Has the Garda Commissioner ever asked us about this?", or would not have checked and thought it relevant that the Attorney General knew about it since the previous November, which is a significant factor as well with regard to how the Taoiseach has confidence in her and in the way the Government handled the issue. Instead, a head had to be delivered and it was that of the former Garda Commissioner.

During the Minister's term of office we have seen that whenever an issue in his Department becomes controversial he goes after the man. That happened with regard to the whistleblowers, the confidential recipient, Oliver Connolly, and the former Garda Commissioner. All of it is to protect the Minister. It is time that the person who should have been first to take responsibility and go because of the handling of these issues should now do so.

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