Results 141-160 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: It was written by the official in the Department of Justice and Equality and it was sent to my parliamentary secretary.

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: I want to correct something, it was an email sent to my private secretary who forwarded the correspondence to me.

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: No, it was departmental. Sorry, the Deputy's question was -----

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: Yes, I will clarify that. When I was reminded of it last week, what struck me about it, and as I have already explained to Deputy Murphy, was that it was a matter that was currently underway before the commission of investigation. It was letting me know that an allegation had been made against Sergeant McCabe. Since reading the email again the other day, it says that I have no function...

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: If someone gets an email and the email explicitly states that the person has no role or function because it is a matter for a tribunal and there is due process at that tribunal and evidence is being given, that actually makes it more understandable that I might not remember it because it says I have no function in relation to it. I do understand that a tribunal of inquiry or commission of...

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: When this email is read it can be seen that it referred to a call from a senior official in the Office of the Attorney General. The Deputy is saying that Sergeant Maurice McCabe is saying that what is in the email is incorrect. I can only tell him what was in the email. I have absolutely no reason to believe that either a senior official from the Office of the Attorney General or a senior...

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: That would be quite an extraordinary allegation to make about a senior official in the Office of the Attorney General. If the Deputy is saying there is a discrepancy between Sergeant McCabe's view of it and what is in this email we will just have to see what he has to say about it. The Taoiseach had a conversation with him earlier.

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: I do not know who attended that meeting. I do know regarding this allegation that Sergeant McCabe, as the Deputy will be aware, at the Charleton tribunal, the disclosures tribunal, said, "It did not happen, it did not happen, [it’s a] horrendous allegation to make and it did not happen." We are very clear about his view on this issue that arose. I am not going to try to re-run...

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: I have already said that I had no role in the legal strategy adopted by An Garda Síochána. How would I possibly know whether there had been a meeting on what the Deputy has outlined? I had no role. I do not have any role. I did not have any role in respect of the legal strategy. If the Deputy has information and queries, the place for them is to be laid before the tribunal...

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: The answer to the first question is "No" and the answer to the second is that until the material emerged in May 2016, which was in the media, in respect of the various issues, that was the first time that I knew. As I told the Taoiseach, that was the first time that I knew about any of those issues.

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: There is no reference in the email to what the criminal charges were. I will repeat that the independent review mechanism was under way.

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: It was under way, and of course I had information on the various cases that were under that independent review mechanism, but that was a completely different issue. Those were the files that were handed over by Deputy Martin to the former Taoiseach, Deputy Enda Kenny, at that point.

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Deputy is making many assumptions and allegations about the behaviour at the tribunal. What I had in this email - which I did not remember when I spoke to the Taoiseach - was the fact that an allegation had been raised against Sergeant McCabe and that it was a serious criminal complaint, which he had always denied. The allegation was that it had not been properly investigated. That...

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: Some people were actually saying that I or the Government were in some way colluding with the legal strategy of the Garda Commissioner. That was said. I am glad that the Deputy realises now that that was not the case.

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: It was certainly out there as an innuendo about the approach that we were taking. The Deputy asked if I held the Garda Commissioner accountable on whistleblowing. I absolutely did, all of the time. The strategy is still under investigation by the Charleton tribunal, as the Deputy is aware. The issue of what precisely the strategy was is being examined by the tribunal right now. The email...

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Commissioner was receiving her own advice. The Department was represented separately at the O'Higgins commission. The idea that the Department, or indeed myself as Minister, would be part of discussions about a legal strategy for any party appearing before the commission would be absolutely wrong, and I have no information that anybody from the Department was involved in such a...

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: I am not the Minister in that Department now, but my understanding from the information that I have sought is that there was a deep trawl done to make sure that everything that was in any way relevant to this issue had been found. I have explained what happened on Thursday and the Department's response at that time, when it reminded me about that email. No one else in the Department and in...

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: I do not understand the last part of the Deputy's question. Can he repeat it please?

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: When the Department told me about this email last Thursday I did not remember it. I tend to read all of the emails that come to me. I can only assume that I did read it but I did not remember it when I was speaking to the Taoiseach. I said to the Taoiseach that I did not know about any legal strategy in advance, that I was not part of any legal strategy, I had no hand, act or part in a...

Justice Issues: Statements (21 Nov 2017)

Frances Fitzgerald: What is very clear from the email is that an official in the Office of the Attorney General decided, having heard from the Chief State Solicitor, I understand, to contact an official in the Department of Justice and Equality and relay to that official the fact that an issue had arisen in the tribunal. Subsequent to that, the official put this in an email, stating that it had arisen and the...