Garda whistleblower Sergeant Maurice McCabe said he’s “glad” the justice minister has corrected the Dáil record on a claim that he failed to co-operate with an internal Garda inquiry into penalty point cancellations.

IT WAS Shatter-Day Night Fever in the Dáil as, after seven hours of sustained attack, the sly smile on the Justice Minister’s face signalled: “I’m staying alive.”

Taoiseach Enda Kenny “essentially sacked” the Garda commissioner to divert attention from a Cabinet split, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has insisted.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has revealed he is having difficulty “getting his head around” the latest twists in the Garda crisis.

Justice Minister Alan Shatter appears to have survived another crisis after an apology to two gardaí who blew the whistle on penalty point cancellations eased concerns of his Labour Party coalition colleagues.

WHAT’S at stake is the most fundamental issue: trust, belief and faith in the justice system.

The justice minister said it was “unfortunate” that his department officials did not inform him of a letter relating to the recording of phone calls at Garda stations until two weeks after they received it.

Sinn Féin, along with a succession of opposition TDs have questioned Alan Shatter’s explanation as to when he was informed of the existence of the Garda tapes.

Ian Bailey’s solicitor has called for a “root and branch” review of the operation of the State’s entire justice system in the wake of the garda phone-taping crisis.

Fianna Fáil has called on Justice Minister Alan Shatter to resign, accusing both him and Enda Kenny of being so caught up in their own spin they were “beginning to meet themselves on the way back”.

Independent TD Clare Daly has accused Justice Minister Alan Shatter of either not realising how serious the Garda tapes scandal is, or of covering it up.

IF the justice minister had given a more credible and more contrite explanation to the Dáil yesterday morning on his handling of information surrounding telephone recordings in Garda stations, then he might have retrieved some of his lost political capital.

The Garda Ombudsman said a report they published in June 2013 — detailing the recording of phone conversations at a Garda station — was a “high-profile case” which had attracted “considerable public awareness”.

Information on Garda station recordings came to light in 2011. How the practice was dealt with by the various arms of the State is now the issue, writes Cormac O’Keeffe

The smell that these Garda scandals have been giving off has turned sour. Alan Shatter and Enda Kenny must answer all the tough questions more than satisfactorily, writes Michael Clifford

Justice Minister Alan Shatter only became aware of the practice of recording phone calls in and out of Garda stations around the country on Monday evening, his spokesperson has insisted.

Pressure piled on Justice Minister Alan Shatter to withdraw remarks denigrating a garda whistleblower as a senior Cabinet colleague told him to deal with the issue.

With Justice Minister Alan Shatter now taking centre stage, the words that will be spoken in the Dáil tomorrow will be crucial, writes Alison O’Connor

Legal experts have warned that gardaí could have breached two major planks of the law by recording phone calls to and from Garda stations.

A SHOCK resignation of the Garda boss in the morning. A new investigation launched in the afternoon into the recording of incoming and outgoing telephone calls at garda stations.

I’M a great fan of the Danish political TV series Borgen. Mostly, as you’d expect, it’s about power.

Sergeant Maurice McCabe has alleged he is still being subjected to harassment at work over the penalty points issue, the Irish Examiner has learned.

The question of who will succeed Martin Callinan as Garda commissioner almost invariably prompts the answer that there’s only one man — or in this case, woman — for the job.

YESTERDAY morning, the resignation of Martin Callinan was just your bog-standard shocking development. By the afternoon, unfolding events had reached back into history and landed on the shores of Grotesque, Unbelievable, Bizarre, Unprecedented.

WHAT a day! We all know the old adage that a week is a long time in politics — sometimes it seems a day can be even longer.

The Garda bugging scandal represents such a threat to State security Enda Kenny was forced to take “personal command” of the situation, Finance Minister Michael Noonan revealed.

ASKED if the announcement of an independent inquiry into phone recordings at Garda stations was an attempt to divert attention away from the Justice Minister, a Government spokesperson said it would be one of the “more elaborate distractions” ever used in Irish politics.