Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuireann an faoiseamh atá ar an Seanadóir Mullins maidir le tuarascáil Cooke iontas orm i bhfianaise na ráitis atá déanta ag an ICCL agus daoine eile ar maidin. The relief shown by Senator Mullins regarding the Cooke report was not shared by others who spoke on the subject this morning. One of the main points of the report is that it is impossible to categorically rule out all possibility of covert surveillance in the three threats identified by Verrimus. It also queried whether GSOC's remit should be confined to the investigation of matters attributable only to the commission of offences by members of the Garda or if it could be considered desirable as a matter of legislative policy that its powers be exercisable in circumstances where an offence is attributable to third parties outside the force. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties issued a strong statement on the issue this morning. The council regards this as an exercise in smoke and mirrors, stating:

Constrained by the terms of reference accorded to him by Government, Judge Cooke has found precisely what it seems to have been preordained that he would find: that it is impossible to rule out categorically all possibility of covert surveillance.
What is striking, however, is that the Judge appears to have made absolutely no independent investigative attempt to establish objectively whether or not surveillance of GSOC by An Garda Síochána had been sought or authorised. It seems that not a single member of An Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces was interviewed; no examination of the records kept of the use of surveillance equipment by police or military intelligence services took place, nor were the “oversight” activities of the “designated judges” under the relevant legislation subject to any form of review.

The judge appears to have made absolutely no independent investigative attempt to establish objectively whether surveillance of GSOC by An Garda Síochána had been sought or authorised. It seems that not a single member of An Garda Síochána or the Defence Forces was interviewed. No examination of the records kept of the use of surveillance equipment by police or military intelligence services took place, nor were the oversight activities of the designated judges, under the relevant legislation, subject to any form of review.

There are still very serious questions we need to address. I call on the Leader to facilitate a debate on the Cooke report as soon as possible because we want to get to the bottom of this matter. Instead of a sense of relief we should be looking to see if there is any chance whatsoever that covert surveillance is happening to any arm of our justice system. If so, we need to ensure it is stopped.