Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am too but I will try to overcome it.

I have only three minutes to address a 300-page report, all of which, believe it or not, I have read and found very interesting. I believe Mr. Justice Fennelly did a very thorough job, which must have been very difficult for him given his finding that senior people in government appeared at certain times to be contradicting each other 100%. I am sure that reading over the report of his investigation caused him to laugh a little because he would have known that there was no way he could have made any of it up.

Why in God's name if the Taoiseach wanted more information on Sunday, 23rd and Monday, 24th did he not contact the Garda Commissioner and ask him in for a chat? The Attorney General appears to have taken the same position as the Taoiseach. She said that the people in possession of all the information about the circumstances were An Garda Síochána. Why, if the Garda Commissioner was the person who had all the information, did the Attorney General not contact him? It is blatantly obvious that former Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Shatter, was sidelined. Leaving aside that the Taoiseach did not reply to his text at Sunday lunchtime, he made only one attempt to telephone him and left it at that. Deputy Shatter was not asked to attend the meeting on Sunday night and was not even notified that he might be called on Monday evening. It does not stack up.

I find it hard to credit that the Taoiseach did not want to put some pressure on the Garda Commissioner to go. We know it was not only about the tapes because the Garda Commissioner was not responsible for them. Along with other Deputies, I called for his removal long before then. However, we would have suggested that he be removed within the rules of the game in here. In actual fact, he was pushed. If the Taoiseach did not want him to go he would not have sent the Secretary General to his house in the middle of the night to tell him that he was concerned. I do not think the Taoiseach would have sent the Secretary General there for that reason. The Taoiseach says he sent the Secretary General there to get more information. Mr. Purcell has a different interpretation of the situation and was horrified at the idea of even being asked to go to the Garda Commissioner's house.

The Taoiseach says he did not want the Garda Commissioner to resign. Why then, when the Commissioner asked for three months grace, which was later reduced to two, did the Taoiseach tell him he had to go immediately? If the Taoiseach did not want the Garda Commissioner to resign could he not have refused his resignation? Could he not have called him in and had a chat about it? The Taoiseach wanted him to go because he had become a political liability but the manner in which he carried that out has left too much to be desired.

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