Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy O'Callaghan made an extremely strong case that he felt the way the terms of reference were formulated as the judge presented them - because they were the judge's words - regarding the allegation of a smear campaign in Superintendent Taylor's protected disclosure was too narrow. The Deputy spent most of the time talking to me about how it circumscribed the investigation too much and ought to be broader. He made his case entirely on the fact that the terms of reference were too narrow, not on the "Prime Time" programme. He made his case on the basis that the way the judge had written them made them too circumscribed. I accepted in full the Deputy's bona fides on it. He wanted the terms of reference changed so that there was no doubt whatsoever that all of those allegations could be investigated and I responded on that basis. What was in or not in the programme was not the central point. It was that the Deputy wanted clarity in respect of the allegations and that they would be fully investigated and would not be circumscribed by reference to Superintendent Taylor. That was the main point of the discussion.

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