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

I do not accept the Taoiseach's reply. No one has ever said the Tánaiste had a part in the legal strategy. We do not know who sent the email or to whom it was sent. Was it sent to the Secretary General? It only turned up last Thursday. Why the top of it was sheared off and why references to individuals were pulled from it I do not know. It states in the last paragraph "and I agreed". Who is the "I" who sent the email? I ask this rhetorically because I will make the point that the Tánaiste does not have to accept that straight away. She can engage with that person.

What is going on here? There are all the public protestations from the Garda Commissioner and the Minister that they will offer the highest level of legal protection to this man, and here the Minister is being told that far from offering the highest legal protection, the individuals involved are going to go for him and undermine him via a case which we know the DPP is not pursuing - which no one is pursuing - and in respect of which the DPP said there was no case to answer. If this does not raise alarm bells in the Tánaiste's mind, I simply do not know what would. The Taoiseach mentioned the Attorney General and his conversation with Sergeant Maurice McCabe.

See this speech in context