Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Tánaiste spoke to the Taoiseach last week. The point I made was that the Dáil had been misled. There is no question about that. Misleading information was given to the Dáil. I am not saying that it was deliberately misled, but it was misled because we were given clear information that the Minister and the Department only knew a year later regarding a row with the Department.

There is genuinely great unease on this matter, given the history. The protestations of support for Sergeant Maurice McCabe contrast with how the system has consistently dealt with him. The public articulation of support bears no relationship with the consistent adversarial attack on his integrity, his motives and what he was about. That followed right through. The significance of the revelations in the O'Higgins report is just that, because in the aftermath of that report, the Government, including the Minister, continued to express full confidence in the Garda Commissioner notwithstanding the clear adversarial nature of the activity at that commission, in essence by the State and legal counsels representing agencies of the State. That is the point.

We are finding it difficult to accept the credibility of what the Tánaiste is offering us in terms of the level of awareness of the Department and herself and when they became aware. Is the Taoiseach still holding that it was a full year afterwards in May 2016? Can we get any clarity on that? The Taoiseach did not answer my question on whether the Tánaiste will appear before the House to give a comprehensive statement on the matter and take questions on it.

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