Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

280. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the meaning of the Taoiseach’s comment during Leaders' Questions on 21 November 2017 regarding the search for an email (details supplied); and the reason his Department was looking for the email referred to by the Taoiseach. [50413/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I have looked at the transcript referred to in the Deputy's question and it is clear that it is referring to the email of 15 May 2015.  On 9 November, the Deputy submitted a series of questions to my Department for answer on 14 November which for the first time specified a date on which a phone call was alleged to have been made by the Commissioner to the Secretary General of my Department.  Once a specific date was mentioned, an email search was carried out for that date, in order to establish if there was any record of contacts of the type concerned on that date.  During the search the email of 15 May was found.  Further searches were then carried out to ascertain if there were other emails of relevance.  That search located a number of emails linked to the email of 15 May 2015.  These were then all disclosed voluntarily to the Disclosures Tribunal.

Subsequently, as the Deputy is aware, An Taoiseach requested that a general trawl of emails be carried to ascertain whether there were other emails, in addition to that of 15 May 2015, which might be relevant to the issue of the Garda Commissioner's legal approach to the O'Higgins Commission of Investigation.

That trawl covered the period from 19 December 2014 to 11 May 2016 and was concluded over the weekend.  A number of other emails were located which were sent to the Disclosures Tribunal on 27 November and have been made available publicly.