Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

-----about governance and process. These need to be studied further, and Mr. Justice Fennelly's observations need to be acted upon in the spirit in which he has presented them in his report.

It should be recalled that in the weeks leading up to the then Garda Commissioner's decision to retire, the justice system, and An Garda Síochána in particular, was engulfed in a series of controversies. The allegations made by Garda whistleblowers, and the handling of these allegations by the Garda authorities, had been causing deep public concern for some time. In addition, relations between the Garda and its oversight and accountability body, the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, had deteriorated significantly.

Twelve days prior to Mr. Callinan's decision to retire, the Garda Inspectorate published a report on the penalty points controversy that was widely interpreted as vindicating the complaints of the whistleblowers. This reignited the issue of the former Commissioner's treatment of these whistleblowers, and particularly his use of the term "disgusting" in reference to them at the Committee of Public Accounts. From Thursday, 20 March, a number of Ministers called on the then Commissioner to withdraw or clarify his remark. Throughout this period, I strongly defended the then Commissioner, consistently and without qualification, including in Washington on 13 March and again in Brussels on 21 March, when I called on Ministers not to publicly comment about the then Commissioner in advance of the Cabinet meeting to be held on Tuesday, 25 March. There was significant media commentary on these controversies and much speculation as to whether the then Commissioner would issue an apology or clarification for his remarks.

It was against this backdrop that on Sunday, 23 March, I was informed by the Attorney General for the first time of the serious issue of widespread recording of telephone conversations in Garda stations throughout the country. The Attorney General was deeply concerned at the revelations and it was clear that I, as Taoiseach, with responsibility for notifying the Cabinet of sensitive legal cases, would have to bring this new information to their attention and that it would form part of the discussion on the other ongoing controversies at the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, 25 March. My purpose in calling the meeting on the evening of Monday, 24 March, was to gather as much information as possible on the taping issue in advance of the following morning's Cabinet meeting so that I could fully inform the Government of this latest revelation, particularly as it related to the Bailey case arising from the du Plantier murder.

What is deeply regrettable, and very significant, is that neither I nor the then Minister for Justice and Equality was made aware of the existence of a formal letter from the then Commissioner on the taping issue which had been sent to the Department of Justice and Equality. While the interim report criticises the delay in submitting this letter on a matter of such significance, it had been in the Department of Justice and Equality for two weeks at this stage, with a legal requirement that it be brought to the attention of the then Minister. Clearly, had this letter been brought to his attention or to my attention on the night of Monday, 24 March-----

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