Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Wallace. What he is doing is making his comments and he is also concluding the outcome of a tribunal of inquiry. What is the question being asked here? Was there a deliberate smearing campaign by senior gardaí against Sergeant McCabe or was there not? We can talk all we like about it in here, but it will not answer that fundamental question. Judge O'Neill was unable to determine what that truth was and he examined both of those protected disclosures in great depth and got a six-week extension to do his work. He concluded at the end of it all that he was not in a position to determine what the truth was, so he said to the Minister and the Government they had to hold commission of investigation and gave them the terms of reference. The Government followed that faithfully, but clearly the judge appointed was also happy that the terms of reference covered agencies that might or might not be involved. The position is the Government has agreed in principle to set up the tribunal of inquiry. The question of the terms of reference, its structure, its range and all these are issues to be decided now, and I hope this matter can be accepted and approved by Dáil Éireann and Seanad Éireann this week and that the person to be appointed, whoever that might be, will be able to get on with his or her work and start the process of effectively finding out the answer to the central question on whether there was or was not a concerted effort of smearing Sergeant McCabe from the highest echelons of Garda Síochána na hÉireann.

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