Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The fact that the Taoiseach says now that he has ordered a trawl of documentation and that he is revisiting the Toland report in respect of the dysfunctionality of the Department of Justice and Equality simply underscores yet again the seriousness of this matter and the fact that it is not an isolated incident. There are now serious questions over the judgment, competence and credibility of An Tánaiste, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, and I think her strategy has been precisely to protect her and her Government in this saga.

The email, which the Tánaiste claims she forgets reading, plainly sets out a deliberate and cynical strategy on the part of the former Garda Commissioner, Nóirín O'Sullivan, to undermine and attack the credibility of Maurice McCabe. It is also clear that the Tánaiste was made aware that the Garda legal team intended using serious criminal allegations against Sergeant McCabe which they knew and, more to the point, she knew had been disproved. We now all know that the Tánaiste failed to act, despite the fact that the Garda Commissioner is immediately accountable to her as Minister for Justice and Equality. The Tánaiste parroted the line that the whistleblower would be given the highest level of protection by Government while at the same time allowing the leadership of An Garda Síochána to pursue such a malicious - not an adversarial, but a malicious - legal strategy.

The Tánaiste was informed in May 2014 of the criminal complaint against McCabe. She knew that that complaint was disproved. How, then, when she opened and read the email a year later about the very same and disproved complaint, did she not grasp the importance of any plan to use this as material in the Commissioner's legal strategy, and how then did she forget ever having read it? The Taoiseach's position up to this point has been that the Tánaiste had no prior knowledge of the legal strategy before the fact. I take "before the fact" to mean before the cross-examination of Maurice McCabe by the commission. That cross-examination took place on 18 May 2015.

I understand the date on the email conveying the malicious nature of the Garda legal strategy was sent to the Tánaiste on 15 May. That is three days prior to the cross-examination. Is that not correct? Does this mean that Deputy Frances Fitzgerald sat back and allowed Maurice McCabe to go before the commission in full knowledge of the Commissioner's vicious strategy? I do not think that would be a matter of forgetfulness; that would call into question the competence, judgment and honour of the second most senior member of the Taoiseach's Government. It raises very serious questions over the Tánaiste's fitness for office. She was given the opportunity last night to clarify her position. She chose not to do that. We did not get the answers we need. How did the Taoiseach come into the Dáil and misrepresent the truth - the truth - that the Tánaiste did have prior knowledge of the legal strategy prior to Maurice McCabe's cross-examination? Why did the Taoiseach persist with the "no prior knowledge" defence? Is that still the Taoiseach's position? Does he have confidence in the Tánaiste? How can she remain on as Tánaiste?

See this speech in context