Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In the context of the Taoiseach going on record saying the Tánaiste had no prior knowledge of this and first became aware of it in May 2016, it is scarcely credible that she would allow him to mislead the House in that way.

We heard earlier a reference to the scoping exercise carried out by Mr. Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill for putting together the Charleton tribunal's terms of reference. A parliamentary reply to Deputy Alan Kelly goes on at length, indicating ultimately, on appointment, Mr. Justice O'Neill was provided with all relevant documentation necessary to undertake his review. In the context of a scoping exercise of that kind and if the Charleton tribunal requested discovery of documentation, surely there would have been a deep scouring of all the files in the Department, including emails? How is it credible that an email of this nature and sensitivity relating to criminal charges of this kind did not surface and was not provided to Mr. Justice O'Neill for the scoping exercise? Was the Tánaiste made aware in May 2015 of the nature of the criminal charges being alleged against Sergeant McCabe?

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