Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not dispute much of what the Deputy is saying. Deputy Ó Snodaigh did good work here and raised issues that were genuine. What I am saying is that I was not aware of it. If I was, I would have raised it with the Minister for Justice and Equality. I am not saying emails were not sent to my office. I am trying to understand what happened in this regard. However, I am also saying that the appropriate response was from the Minister for Justice and Equality. This is a Garda issue, and was a Garda issue at the time. That is what I read out in the context of the response that the Tánaiste at that point, Frances Fitzgerald, made. I am not disputing that this a serious issue. It was raised and sent to my office. We did not respond to the Deputy, as far as I am aware. That is because I was not involved. Whether I should have been is a different issue, but I did not have this issue raised with me and, therefore, I did not speak to the Deputy or respond to him. The issue was responded to by Government and by the appropriate Minister because these are criminal allegations and have subsequently proven to be very serious.

The Deputy asked whether we can provide assurance that this is not happening on any other sites.

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