Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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249. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the date and time in May 2015 the then Minister received the email referred to in Leaders' Questions on 21 November 2017. [50414/17]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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250. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the email from his Department referred to by the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions on 21 November 2017 was found on 16 July 2017 by his Department or was sent to the Government from outside a government Department. [50419/17]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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252. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when and the way in which the attention of the then Minister's personal staff or advisers was drawn to the email from his Department referred to by the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions on 21 November 2017; and the actions they took in regard to same. [50421/17]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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253. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the time of the email from his Department referred to by the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions on 21 November 2017; the person it was addressed to; the persons it was copied to; the location from which it originated; and if the attention of persons in his Department was drawn to the contents of the email previously. [50422/17]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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254. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the date of the conversation referred to in the email from his Department referred to by the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions on 21 November 2017. [50423/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 249, 250 and 252 to 254, inclusive, together.

As the Deputy is aware, the relevant series of emails to which he refers have now been published on the website of the Department of Justice and Equality. They have also been disclosed to the Disclosures Tribunal. 

This publication contains the relevant information which the Deputy is seeking.  

It can be seen there that it was sent by an Assistant Secretary at 16:57 to the Private Secretary of the then Minister, copied to the Secretary General's Office, the then Deputy Secretary and a Principal Officer in the Department. The email originated in the Department and is an account of a telephone conversation between the Assistant Secretary and a senior official in the Office of the Attorney General. The telephone conversation which gave rise to the email of 15 May 2015 took place on the same day, that is 15 May 2015.

The email was subsequently forwarded to the then Minister and her advisors, and her Private Secretary subsequently replied on 25 May 2015 saying it had been noted by the Minister. It was also drawn to the attention of the Secretary General and his private secretary sent a similar reply. All parts of this thread have been published by my Department. There is no record of the email having been subsequently brought to the attention of persons other then those referred to above. The information was uncovered in the course of a trawl of emails in my Department that was undertaken.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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251. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the reason the email from his Department referred to by the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions on 21 November 2017, to which the Government's attention was drawn on 16 July 2017, was not sent to the Disclosures Tribunal until 21 July 2017. [50420/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I assume that the dates of 16 July and 21 July 2017 in the Deputy's question should read 16 and 21 November 2017 respectively.

For the sake of clarity I can confirm that the e-mail to which the Deputy refers was forwarded to the Disclosures Tribunal on 21 November 2017.

The original email of 15 May 2015 was located by officials in my Department on 9 November 2017. I became aware of the existence of the email on 13 November 2017 by way of a telephone call from the Secretary General of my Department. At that stage, my officials were ascertaining if there was any other correspondence or e-mails in or around the time of the May 2015 e-mail to ensure that a full disclosure was made to the Tribunal. 

My officials, on 14 November 2017, sought the views of the Attorney General in relation to the discovery of the email to the Tribunal. 

A wider check was initiated to ascertain if there was any other relevant correspondence and that search was completed on 16 November.

It was on 16 November that the Tánaiste was informed about the recovery of the email of 15 May 2015.

On 20 November, the Taoiseach was informed about the email.

As already outlined to the Deputy, my Department wrote to the Disclosures Tribunal on 21 November enclosing copies of the relevant emails. The Tribunal last week acknowledged the practical assistance of the Department of Justice to date.

As the Deputy is aware, further e-mails have come to light following a trawl of emails which was completed over the weekend. My Department disclosed these to the Tribunal yesterday, 27 November 2017 and published the full threads on my Department's website.

My statement to the Dáil this evening sets out these issues in greater detail.