Results 1,461-1,480 of 19,162 for speaker:Alan Shatter

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I believe we had some conversation about all of the controversy that was going on, but it was not an engagement where I went into any detail with him about these matters. We had an engagement with the media and we were both asked questions about the issue. In the context of the way events developed and matters were reported, when I met him I had not had an opportunity to read all of the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I do not think Senator Byrne has been here for all of these proceedings-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I understand that but he has missed some of what has been said.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Senator may not have heard me say that I am not adjudicating between Verrimus and Rits. As Minister I received two different reports of a technical nature. They clearly disagree with each other and it was one of the issues which motivated my recommending and discussing with the Cabinet the holding of an inquiry by a judge. That is what will happen. I am not favouring one over the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: It is not identical. The Rits report was not leaked because in fact the Rits report was not finalised until Tuesday. The coffee shop-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The coffee shop issue does not come from the Rits report at all. I think that was misreported today and I did not say that in the Dáil yesterday. The coffee shop issue-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: Let me explain the coffee shop issue, which is very straightforward. I received the section 103 report from GSOC. The section 103 report in the context of what Verrimus said detailed that the Wi-Fi issue was dealt with in the context of it being identified that in a business close by, there was a Wi-Fi system that accessed Bitbuzz. For some unexplained reason it was, on occasions, randomly...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: That is exactly it.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The inquiry being set up is based on the types of inquiry held previously. For example, I remember being very anxious that there be an inquiry into matters in Donegal. My recollection was that a senior counsel rather than a judge was appointed to prepare a report for the former Minister for Justice, John O'Donoghue, on allegations about matters in Donegal concerning Garda misconduct. That...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Senator was asking me about the format. There have been a number of occasions in the past where issues required an independent assessment and previous governments asked either senior counsel or members of the Judiciary or retired members to prepare a report of a similar nature to this particular report being sought.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: Let us take Rits first. It is an Irish company. It is an independent information security consultancy that has been delivering services to Irish clients since 1990. It is a company that does not sell any security products. It has been retained over the years by many organisations in the public and private sectors, including the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, to do security...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: Of course their mutual level of competence and expertise is something that may be addressed and considered by the judge. Therefore, I have no wish to comment on the level of expertise of either firm.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: My departmental officials may wish to comment on this but their view was that it was an appropriate company. I did not know of the company. The view was it was an appropriate and reliable company to carry out a peer review. The peer review might well have concluded by agreeing with all the information that Verrimus gave to GSOC. I did not know what the peer review was going to say....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: Perhaps I will finish my comments. I am keen to finish the other questions Deputy Creighton raised. During the course of the peer review, Rits had some queries about the equipment in the GSOC offices. A request was made to the GSOC offices to clarify some matters relating to equipment. As I understand it, the clarifications were provided. I do know the outcome of all this but I took the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I am not aware that happened.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: No, he apologised. He did not elaborate.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: I asked him why I learned of it in the newspaper and why, if it was a section 102 investigation, I was not informed. I do not want to misrepresent his explanation which was consistent with what is on page 6 of the transcript, which is that he got this before Christmas and considered whether he should do it and he did not do it and he now regrets that decision. It was no more than that....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: It was said I have been a disgrace, but the reality is that all I am doing is reporting what GSOC stated. GSOC stated that there is no evidence of Garda misconduct. It has been said that there is no evidence that the Garda had GSOC under surveillance. All I can do is repeat this. Did somebody else have GSOC under surveillance? We are back to the main issue. Anomalies were identified....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: The Deputy made what I think was supposed to be a critical reference to everybody "cosying up". The Garda Síochána performs a function, the Garda Commissioner performs a function, and GSOC performs its function. My role in all of this is to ensure the independence and integrity of both bodies, to address legislative issues that need to be addressed, to ensure that if one or other...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Public Service Oversight and Petitions: Security and Surveillance Issues: Minister for Justice and Equality (19 Feb 2014)

Alan Shatter: An investigation has already been conducted by GSOC and it has reached conclusions on that investigation. That is something that people have lost sight of throughout all of this. We have had confidence in GSOC when it reports Garda misconduct, and when it reports that there is no Garda misconduct and that there is no definitive evidence of surveillance, I must stand over the conclusions...