Review of Justice Department must be thought out

The Department of Justice has received a hammering before, but few can recall a time when its own minister and the Taoiseach gave it such a public tongue-lashing, writes Cormac O’Keeffe.

Sandwiched between the two attacks, the Department’s top civil servant, secretary general Noel Waters, announced he was immediately leaving, but with a parting salvo, blasting “unwarranted criticism” of the department.

The upheaval is set to continue. Firstly the department faces a Taoiseach-ordered review of the email fiasco. Then it, and its senior officials, face the scrutiny of the Disclosures Tribunal.